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HomeNEWSWORLD NEWSIraqi Sunnis still feel excluded by anti-ISIS mobilization forces

Iraqi Sunnis still feel excluded by anti-ISIS mobilization forces

Al Arabiya, 20 January 2016 – Incorporating Iraqi Sunnis in fighting ISIS militants is still falling short of what the minority sect is striving for, an Iraqi parliamentarian has said.
This sentiment has left some recently liberated areas in Iraq unprotected due to the shortage of Sunni forces needed, he added.
The PMU were formed soon after ISIS’s shock grab of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June 2014. While the units have started to recruit Sunnis, more are needed to help secure areas recaptured from the militants.
Mohammed Karbouli, a member of the Iraqi Security and Defense parliamentary committee described Sunnis as feeling continuously excluded.
The lawmaker said the reality is a far cry from the reported figure, putting the current total number of Sunni volunteers at merely 16,000 whereas Shiites in the PMU account for as much as 120,000 fighters.
“What we have – those who are receiving salaries – is a number that does not exceed 16,000 for all of the Sunni provinces,” Karbouli told Al Arabiya News.
Of the 16,000 figure, the western province of Anbar takes the lion’s share of 9,000 volunteer fighters, he said.

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