BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Almost all Shi’ite paramilitaries had left Tikrit yesterday after locals complained that some fighters had spent several days looting the Sunni city after helping retake it from Islamic State.
“Most of the (paramilitaries) were removed from the city,” said Ahmed al-Kraim, the head of the council of Tikrit and its province Salahuddin.
The rampage of theft and burning began on Wednesday, within hours of the Iraqi government declaring that security forces and Shi’ite paramilitaries had recaptured the city from Islamic State (IS) after a month-long battle. IS had held Tikrit since last June.
Local officials said the mayhem left hundreds of homes and shops looted or torched. The violence had threatened to cast a pall over the government victory in the city, home of the late dictator Saddam Hussein.
Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, a Shi’ite Islamist, met officials from Salahuddin province and took the decision that the paramilitaries had to leave Tikrit.
Kraim called the talks with Abadi “very positive”.
The Sunni politician said that the looting and burning had stopped yesterday after “the federal and local police along with (counter-terrorism) troops became responsible for Tikrit’s security.”
A spokesman for the Shi’ite paramilitary fighters, Karim al-Noori, confirmed that 80 per cent of the Shi’ite volunteer fighters had left Tikrit.
“The situation now is calm,” said a police major in Tikrit, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Some eyewitnesses and government officials also blamed local Sunnis for the looting.
