Baghdad (Reuters) Mar 21, 2015 – Two Iraqi local officials and a police officer accused Shi’ite paramilitary forces on Saturday of burning and looting homes in the town of al-Dour after capturing the area during a military campaign to oust Islamic State fighters.
Salahuddin Provincial Council member Sahar Mawlood, parliament member Dhia al-Douri and a local policeman said that Kataib Hezbollah fighters, who have been battling Islamic State, had looted, blown up or set fire to houses in the town.
“More than 150 houses were burned. Today witnessed the largest targeting of houses, more than the previous days,” Mawlood said.
Iraqi security forces backed by Shi’ite paramilitary groups have paused their push to drive Islamic State out of the city of Tikrit, which it seized last June in a lightning advance across central Iraq.
The Shi’ite paramilitary forces have been accused by the Sunni minority of punishing Sunnis with extrajudicial killings and by driving ordinary people from their homes for failing to resist Islamic State.
The operation to retake Tikrit was halted last weekend, as the Iraqi government said it wanted to make sure all civilians had been evacuated, and to protect soldiers and volunteer fighters who were facing stiff resistance.