Extremists’ ouster from Iraqi town leaves bitter divisions

Associated Press

QAYARA, IRAQ

On the main shopping street of the town of Qayara, murals put up by the Islamic State group that told people how to dress and behave have been hastily painted over. New signs touting nationalism and unity now line a main highway since Iraqi forces drove the extremists from the Tigris River Valley town in August.

Deeper inside Qayara, however, fresh graffiti has appeared on some streets, revealing bitterness, anger and lasting fissures among the population.

“Blood for blood,” reads the Arabic script spray-painted outside a destroyed home on the town’s northern edge. Neighbors said the house belonged to a man who joined IS when the group first rose to power in 2014. Slang and obscenities against the owner also are written on a partially destroyed garden wall.

When Qayara was retaken by Iraqi security forces, it was hailed as an early triumph over the extremists as the country prepared for the long-awaited offensive to liberate the second-largest city Mosul that began Oct. 17.

But for some residents, the ouster of IS doesn’t feel like victory.

Government services have failed to return. Oil wells set ablaze by the militants continue to burn uncontrollably. Violence persists, with residents carrying out revenge attacks in the wake of the brutal reign by the militants.

Mahmoud Shaker, who lives down the street from the destroyed house, said a group of local tribal fighters and policemen reduced it to rubble a few weeks after IS militants were pushed out of Qayara.

“We know this wasn’t done legally, but for us, this is justice,” the 25-year-old Shaker said. It was “common knowledge” that the man who lived there was a senior IS leader, he added, although he said he personally never saw the man commit a crime.

Elsewhere, suicide bombers targeted two major cities in Iraq on Monday, striking security forces in the Sunni city of Fallujah and Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala in the country’s south, killing at least six people in each attack.

The bombings are an apparent attempt by the Islamic State group to strike back as government troops’ advance on their stronghold in the northern city of Mosul. The Sunni militant group claimed responsibility for both bombings.

In Fallujah, the attack was carried out by twin suicide car bombers in the city center.