Alwaght- Destruction of homes in villages captured by Kurdish Peshmerga could amount to war crime, the Human Rights Watch says.
Iraq's Kurdish security forces have unlawfully destroyed Arab homes and villages in northern Iraq over the past two years in what may amount to a war crime, HRW said on Sunday.
The Peshmerga forces are part of an operation to liberate northern Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS domination.
They are closing in on the city from the northern parts, capturing villages on their way.
The New York-based group said in a report that violations between September 2014 and May 2016 in 21 towns and villages within disputed areas of Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces had followed "a pattern of apparently unlawful demolitions".
The HRW report is based on more than a dozen field visits and interviews with over 120 witnesses and officials. Analysis of satellite images suggests property destruction targeted Arab residents long after any military necessity for such actions had ended.
"In village after village in Kirkuk and Nineveh, KRG security forces destroyed Arab homes – but not those belonging to Kurds – for no legitimate military purpose," said Joe Stork, deputy director at HRW. "KRG leaders' political goals don't justify demolishing homes illegally."
The satellite imagery provides evidence of destruction in 62 other villages following their capture by Kurdish security forces, but HRW said a lack of witness accounts made it difficult to determine cause and responsibility in those instances.
