WarSclerotic

John Kerry has insisted that Kurdish leaders are backing his efforts to form a new government in Baghdad.

In an interview for CNN after his meetings in Irbil, Kerry played down President Barzani’s remark that Iraq is facing a “new reality”. Barzani’s observation is being seen as a rejection of the US secretary of state’s call for unity.

But Kerry said:

Even President Barzani today, who is opposed to the prime minister [Nouri al-Maliki] made it clear that he wants to participate in the process that he wants to help chose the next government. And other leaders that I met with were all engaged and energised and ready to go to bat for a new governance. So while he says there’s a new reality. The new reality is that they are under attack from Isil and they have realised that they cannot continue with this sectarian division.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2278444-john-kerry-says-kurdish-leaders-have-pledged-to-help-form-a-new-iraqi-government

1.33pm BST

John Kerry has insisted that Kurdish leaders are backing his efforts to form a new government in Baghdad.

In an interview for CNN after his meetings in Irbil, Kerry played down President Barzani’s remark that Iraq is facing a “new reality”. Barzani’s observation is being seen as a rejection of the US secretary of state’s call for unity.

But Kerry said:

Even President Barzani today, who is opposed to the prime minister [Nouri al-Maliki] made it clear that he wants to participate in the process that he wants to help chose the next government. And other leaders that I met with were all engaged and energised and ready to go to bat for a new governance. So while he says there’s a new reality. The new reality is that they are under attack from Isil and they have realised that they cannot continue with this sectarian division.

Updated at 1.38pm BST

1.11pm BST

It wasn’t just the body language that was different in Ibril and Baghdad. There was no need for body armour in the Kurdish region, notes Kurdish campaigner Abdulrahman Hamdi.

see the difference between #Erbil and #Baghdad during @JohnKerry’s visit. #Kurdistan pic.twitter.com/wk0dvaBlD8
— Abdulrahman Hamdi (@havall73) June 24, 2014

12.34pm BST

A boutique has opened in one Istanbul’s busies shopping streets selling Isis T-shirts and banners, according to the Turkish news site Yurt.

Store selling ISIS apparel opens in Istanbul neighborhood, eyes 7 additional locations http://t.co/tF6kJUJNgH pic.twitter.com/lOvOKagCMf
— Piotr Zalewski (@p_zalewski) June 24, 2014

12.03pm BST

John Kerry’s flying visit to Irbil is coming to an end.

After several hours in Erbil, Iraq, John Kerry is now about to depart for NATO meetings in Brussels.
— Matt Viser (@mviser) June 24, 2014

The Times reckons that Kurdish leaders rebuffed Kerry’s appeal for unity, which maybe an over interpretation of Barzani’s remark about the “new reality” in Iraq.

Updated at 12.40pm BST

11.49am BST
UN: More than 1,000 killed in Iraq in 17 days

United Nations human rights monitors say at least 1,075 people have been killed in Iraq during June, most of them civilians, AP reports.

The UN human rights team in Iraq says at least 757 civilians were killed and 599 injured in Nineveh, Diyala and Salah al-Din provinces from June 5-22.

Spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva the figure “should be viewed very much as a minimum” and includes some verified summary executions and extra-judicial killings of civilians, police, and soldiers who had stopped fighting.

He says at least another 318 people were killed and 590 injured during the same time in Baghdad and areas in southern Iraq, many of them from at least 6 separate vehicle-borne bombs.

Updated at 12.27pm BST

11.04am BST

Iraqi air strikes near the oil refinery in Baiji, have killed at least 19 people on Tuesday, officials told AFP. It also reported that the plant is still in government hands.

The raids, which began early on Tuesday, also wounded at least 17 people, they said.

The officials said the dead and wounded included civilians, and it was unclear if there were any casualties among the militants who were the target of the strikes.

Iraqiya state television said 19 “terrorists” were killed in the Baiji raids.

Militants also launched a renewed push to seize Iraq’s largest oil refinery, which is located near the town, but the overnight attack was repelled by security forces, officials said.

10.54am BST

Residents in a string of Shia Turkmen villages south of Kirkuk have given first hand accounts of alleged Isis killings and brutality.

Scores of people are missing, more than a dozen residents who told the Washington Post.

The survivors’ stories of civilians being gunned down were reminiscent of the most brutal days of the Iraq war.

The Turkmens have been caught up in past sectarian violence in Kirkuk and other ethnically mixed cities in northern Iraq, but the power of the Isis rebels adds an explosive new element to such clashes.

Askar Hassan of the Shia Turkmen village of Brawawchli said the attack began around midday 17 June, when many of the town’s residents were napping in the heat. First, shells began to crash into the village. Then he heard gunfire. Hassan grabbed his family and bolted into a nearby field of date palms.

As they ran, a group of men sprayed the fleeing villagers with bullets.

Hassan said he saw his cousin drop from a gunshot before he felt a bullet pierce his own side, sending him to the ground. “Pretend to be dead,” he told his wife and four children as they fell around him. Two of the children had also been shot, he said.

Within moments, the militants had reached them. “God is great!” they shouted, but they moved past his family members, who were lying still, Hassan said.

10.20am BST

There are yet more competing claims about who is in control of the Baiji oil refinery.

CJ Chivers, from the New York Times, was told by an army officer that militants have captured perimeter towers but that the battle for the plant continues.

ISIS claim of capturing Baji refinery disputed by Iraqi Army officer inside; says militants captured towers by fence but battle continues.
— C.J. Chivers (@cjchivers) June 24, 2014

10.17am BST

US officials are worried that the growing strength of the Kurds could cause them to split off from Iraq, according to the Boston Globe’s Matt Viser who travelled to Irbil with Kerry.

He writes:

One of Kerry’s aims is to convince the Kurds to remain active in creating a central government, according to a senior state department official.

“If they decide to withdraw from the Baghdad political process, it will accelerate a lot of the negative trends,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Whereas if they are an active participant in that process … they will have substantial clout and influence in Baghdad.”

But the gains that Kurdish forces have made in recent weeks, the official said, could complicate the discussions.

“Some facts on the ground can be created that might not be reversed,” the official said. “I mean, they’re in a very different situation and – but they – I think there’s a debate going on in the Kurdish region with some people saying, ‘Hey, this is actually pretty good, look what’s happening here,’ and others saying, ‘So we should just kind of build a moat and kind of do our own thing.’”

10.02am BST

There are unconfirmed reports that the judge who sentenced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to death has himself been executed by Isis militants.

The Daily Mail reports:

Raouf Abdul Rahman, who sentenced the dictator to death by hanging in 2006, was reportedly killed by rebels in retaliation for the execution of the 69-year-old.

His death has not been confirmed by the Iraqi government, but officials had not denied reports of his capture last week. He is believed to have been arrested on June 16, and died two days later.

Jordanian MP Khalil Attieh wrote on his Facebook page that Judge Rahman, who had headed the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal during Saddam s trial, had been arrested and sentenced to death.

9.41am BST

The body language at today’s meeting between Kerry and Barzani looked a lot less awkward than Kerry’s meeting 24 hours ago with Nouri al-Maliki.

At one point during yesterday’s photo call Kerry appeared to be ushering Maliki out amid speculation that he urged the Iraqi president to resign.

By contrast today Kerry was photographed joking with Fuad Hussein chief of staff at the presidency of the Kurdistan regional government.