Five Christians wounded as Shia-led troops open fire against protesters in Nineveh

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Five Christians were wounded as the Shia-led paramilitary forces opened fire against demonstrators who were protesting against assaults by the troops in Nineveh, a security source was quoted saying on Saturday.

“Tens of Christians gathered today at Bartala village, east of Mosul, in protest against frequent assaults by the PMFs against the Christians,” Police Cap. Agathon Saleh told Anadolu Agency.

” The latest assaults were the support of PMFs to Shia students at al-Hamdaniya University to attack Christian students, in addition to the frequent thefts and sexual harassment of women,” he added.

Troops, according to Saleh, “opened fire in the air to disperse protesting civilians, however, they remained and resumed chanting anti-PMFs slogans. This urged the troops to randomly shoot the protesters.”

“Three men and two women were injured before they were transferred to the hospital in Hamdaniya for treatment. Counter-Terrorism Services (army’s elite forces) arrived then and arrested nine PMFs personnel for investigations,” Saleh said.

“Many Christians are angry about PMFs’ practices, considering them resumption of violations by the Islamic State,” he added.

Many Christians evacuated their regions in Mosul as IS controlled these areas before three years. However, many of them returned back after those regions were cleared from IS.

Many factions including Sunnis and Kurds demand disarming PMFs, which are accused of committing violations during the past three years.