Kurds blocking return of Arabs to disputed Iraq areas
Kurdish forces have prevented displaced Arabs from returning to disputed areas of Iraq that Kurdish leaders want to incorporate in their autonomous region over Baghdad's objections, a report said Thursday, according to AFP.
Human Rights Watch warned the Kurdistan regional government against meting out "collective punishment of entire Arab communities" for ISIS' attacks.
"Cordoning off Arab residents and refusing to let them return home appears to go well beyond a reasonable security response," said Letta Tayler, senior terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at the New York-based rights group.
The HRW report said Kurdish forces have for months barred Arabs displaced by last year's ISIS offensive from returning to their homes in disputed areas.
Kurds however had been able to return to the same areas and even in some cases allowed to move into the homes of displaced Arabs, the group said.