BAGHDAD: A security agency controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said on Wednesday that they had uncovered a plot to assassinate PUK leader Bafel Talabani, sharing a video that purported to show six guards saying they had received an order to kill him.
The video, broadcast by a PUK-affiliated security service in the Kurdistan region, showed the fighters describing plans to rent an apartment in a high-rise building near the PUK leader’s headquarters. Footage included snipers with silencers positioned near a window overlooking the party leader’s office.
The guards in the video say they received their orders from Lahur Talabani, a prominent Kurdish politician who is the cousin of Bafel Talabani and leader of the rival People’s Front party.
Lahur Talabani’s office was not immediately available for comment. A member of the People’s Front accused the PUK of using judicial and security institutions to suppress political rivals.
Lahur Talabani was arrested on Friday by PUK-controlled forces after they raided a hotel in Sulaymaniya late on Thursday and clashed for four hours with fighters loyal to him. Police and hospital sources said three PUK commandos and two of Lahur Talabani’s fighters were killed in the fighting.
Security officials said more than 160 of Lahur Talabani’s loyalists were detained alongside him.
A court in Sulaymaniya had issued an arrest warrant for Lahur Talabani on charges of attempted murder and destabilizing the city’s security, judicial officials said. Sources familiar with the situation said the arrest was part of a broader struggle for control over Sulaymaniya, a key stronghold of the PUK.
Lahur Talabani was previously joint president of the PUK until a power struggle led to his ousting in 2021.
“Deploying tanks and hundreds of armored vehicles to arrest a party leader is absolutely unrelated to legal or democratic methods,” said the People’s Front representative, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of arrest.
The confrontation marks the most serious internal armed conflict among Kurdish factions in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The escalation has raised concerns among regional officials and analysts that violence could threaten the relative stability long enjoyed by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which has largely remained insulated from the broader unrest affecting other parts of the country.
Iraqi Kurdish PUK security force alleges plot to kill party leader
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Iraqi Kurdish PUK security force alleges plot to kill party leader
- The escalation has raised concerns among regional officials and analysts that violence could threaten the relative stability long enjoyed by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region
EU warns Israel suspending Gaza NGOs would block ‘life-saving aid’
BRUSSELS: The EU warned Wednesday that Israel's threat to suspend several aid groups in Gaza from January would block "life-saving" assistance from reaching the population.
"The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law cannot be implemented in its current form," EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X, after Israel said several groups would be barred for failing to provide details of their Palestinian employees.
"IHL (international humanitarian law) leaves no room for doubt: aid must reach those in need," Lahbib wrote.
NGOs had until December 31 to register under the new framework, which Israel says aims to prevent "hostile actors or supporters of terrorism" operating in the Palestinian territories, rather than impede aid.
Israeli authorities announced Tuesday that organisations which "refused to submit a list of their Palestinian employees in order to rule out any links to terrorism" had received notice that their licences would be revoked as of January 1, with an obligation to cease all activities by March 1.
Israel has not disclosed the number of groups facing a ban, but it has specifically called out Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for failing to meet the rules. It accused the medical charity of employing two individuals with links to Palestinian armed groups.
The Israeli government told AFP earlier this month that 14 NGO requests had been rejected as of November 25.
Several NGOs said the new rules will have a major impact on aid distribution in Gaza, with humanitarian organisations saying the amount of aid entering Gaza remains inadequate.
While an accord for a ceasefire that started on October 10 stipulated the entry of 600 trucks per day, only 100 to 300 are carrying humanitarian aid, according to NGOs and the United Nations.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said last week that on average 4,200 aid trucks enter Gaza weekly, which corresponds to around 600 daily.
