An armed Yazidi group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is handing over its weapons and joining Iraq’s security forces, the Iraqi government announced Monday.
The Sinjar Protection Units, based in northern Iraq for more than a decade, draws its fighters from the Yazidi minority, which suffered massacres under the Islamic State group during its control of large parts of Iraq between 2014 and 2017.
The group has ties to the PKK, which Turkey designates as a terrorist organization. The PKK announced its dissolution last year and is negotiating with Ankara over efforts to end its decades-long insurgency.
“Today a ceremony will be held for the disengagement of the Sinjar Protection Units and their integration into the official Iraqi agencies, transferring security responsibility in Mount Sinjar to the federal authorities,” Iraqi military spokesman Sabah al-Numan said.
He said the move was part of the government’s efforts to bring weapons held by armed groups under state control.
The Sinjar Protection Units confirmed an agreement with Baghdad, according to the Kurdish Firat news agency.
The group said the deal would “put an end to the independent military status of our forces, which comprise 4,165 fighters, men and women, and integrate them into the federal security system.”
© Agence France-Presse
