Iraq MP Urges Inquiry Into Airstrike Against Shi’ite Funeral in Daquq

Seeks to Know If US or Turkish Planes Are Responsible

Iraqi MP Hanan Fatlawi is killing for a parliamentary inquiry into the Friday airstrike against the Shi’ite mosque in the town of Daquq, an attack which killed an estimated 20 civilians involved in a funeral procession. She says the probe is needed to discover who is responsible, suggesting it was either the US or Turkey.

The US has denied being responsible for the attack, though their initial denial claimed only that they were confident any airstrikes in Daquq did not result in civilian casualties. This is noteworthy because this was the only strike reported in Daquq, and that ISIS was not believed to be anywhere near that town.

Turkey has launched unilateral strikes into Iraq, but only in the northernmost parts of Iraqi Kurdistan. It would be unlikely they’d launch an attack so far south, let alone against a Shi’ite town, as their attacks tend to focus exclusively on Kurds.

Iraq’s military is already reporting that it is conducting an investigation too, but hasn’t offered any insights so far on what they’ve learned. The Iraqi military does, of course, have warplanes of its own, but it would be unusual for the Shi’ite government to target anything anywhere near a Shi’ite mosque, and again this target is not believed to have been at all ISIS related.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.