Shia Militants Arrested as Iraqi PM's Advisor Promises Justice For Drone Attack

Mashreq Abbas, political advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, vowed in a tweet on Tuesday, November 9 that those behind the attempt on Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s life would be brought to justice. "We will never, under any circumstances, back down from bringing the terrorists who tried to assassinate the Prime Minister of Iraq to justice,” Abbas wrote, adding: "Iraq has been deeply wounded, and whoever tries to probe Iraq’s wound will find the answer.”

Al-Kadhimi had previously confirmed that the government had identified the would-be perpetrators, and would expose them. He escaped unharmed after a drone attack targeted his residence in the Green Zone in Baghdad on Sunday.

Political sources in Iraq have meanwhile confirmed to IranWire that security forces had arrested a group of the so-called Katyusha cells, linked to the Shia paramilitary group the Khazali Network. The group is accused of carrying out a missile attack on the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad’s Mansour district, during a visit by al-Kadhimi on October 31.

The sources, who asked not to be named, added that political pressure was being exerted on al-Kadhimi by the head of the the Shia Fatah Alliance, Hadi al-Amiri, and the head of Iraq’s State of Law coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, to release detainees from the Khazali Network. Al-Kadhimi has so far refused to back down and promised that a thorough investigation will be carried out.

Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Khazali network, had declared on video during his attendance at a sit-in by supporters of the Fatah Alliance, that al-Kadhimi would be held accountable for the blood of those “martyrs” who had died in clashes with the security forces in the Green Zone, adding that he would be “brought to justice”.

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