Families flee Samara ahead of planned offensive

Hundreds of families have started to flee the Iraqi city of Samara, some 120km north of the capital, Baghdad, following a recent Ministry of Defense announcement that preparations had started for an offensive by Coalition forces against insurgents holed up there, officials said. Hamad al-Kashty, governor of Salah al-Din province, said on Monday that nearly 500 families had so far fled the city. Many were presently in the outskirts, particularly around al-Dur, al-Salam, Baghdad and within empty schools and government buildings near the city of Tikrit. "I know that the city has become an important place for insurgents who increase their numbers everyday, but the government should be careful and not transform our city into another terror as happened with Fallujah and Talafar," al-Kashty added. He explained that there was a lack of security inside the city, especially after insurgent groups announced that any military or government-armed group who did not leave his job would be considered a target. The announcement made dozens of Iraqis leave their jobs to keep their families safe from revenge. A spokesperson at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said such operations would continue to rid the country of insurgents. "Salah al-Din province has been another worrying spot of insurgency in Iraq and we should have control over it to give security and comfort to Iraqis, but we do not have a certain date for operations and people should await our announcement to leave," Ahmed Diar, a senior official of the ministry, said. Local residents in the city said insurgents could be seen walking freely carrying machine guns, forcing them to barricade themselves inside their houses. "I have closed my shop and will not reopen it until I see how the government will stop this insurgency there. I took my family to this abandoned building until I can arrange somewhere to stay in Baghdad," said Muhammad Bakr, 42, a shopkeeper in Samara and father of five. However, the Iraq Red Crescent Society (IRCS) urged the Iraq government not to proceed with their operation, saying the last offensive against insurgents in Talafar had forced nearly 5,000 families to flee the city. "We put all our efforts to help the people who fled Talafar, another operation will just bring more injustice and pain to Iraqis. We had difficulties getting aid to Talafar as our stores were empty and another offensive will be much worse," Ferdous al-Abadi, spokeswoman for the IRCS, said. Fleeing residents said there had been a build up of Iraqi and Coalition forces in the city following the announcement last week. "I preferred to take my family and leave the city afraid that they suffer what our brothers in Talafar are suffering. We can see the increase in US and Iraq forces around the city and fleeing is the better solution to guarantee our lives," said Mahmoud Tikrit, 56, father of three who fled the city for its outskirts. Officials also said an operation in Samara could affect the upcoming 15 October referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, by deterring the few Sunni voters who might want to cast their ballots despite calls by their leaders not to endorse the constitution. On 21 September, the IRCS said nearly 1,500 displaced Iraqi families had returned to Talafar after Coalition forces ended an operation to rout insurgents hiding there. Returnees said dozens of their homes had been totally destroyed. Despite the returns, however, thousands of displaced people are still living in camps and surviving on aid from various humanitarian organisations. The fighting also disrupted the school year, which has now been delayed across the city, residents said. Up to 3,800 United States forces and 5,000 Iraqi troops took part in the operation in which 153 terrorists have been killed and 187 captured, US officials said, denying there were any civilian casualties.