Residents of Iraq town want answers on deadly strike

Residents of Iraq town want answers on deadly strike
Residents of the Iraqi town of Daquq on Thursday demanded answers about who is responsible for an airstrike on a Shia place of worship that killed 15 people last week.
2 min read
28 October, 2016
The US-led coalition has denied responsibility for the deadly strike [AFP]

Residents of the Iraqi town of Daquq on Thursday demanded answers about who is responsible for an airstrike on a Shia place of worship that killed 15 people last week.

The US-led coalition that is carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq said it had "definitively" determined that it did not carry out the strike in the northern town.

And while the Iraqi government has announced the launch of an investigation into the strike, no results have been released so far.

"The government sent an investigation committee to check the site and obtained the remaining pieces of the missile... and its serial number," said Aryan al-Bayati, who lost his mother, sister and niece in the bombing.

"Where are the results of their investigation until now," Bayati asked.

Daquq residents "are still feeling huge sadness and pain," as they have been for seven days, he said.

The strike hit a Shia place of worship that is known as a husseiniyah in Daquq on the afternoon of October 21, also wounding dozens of people.

Murtada Abbas Daquqi, who lost his sister and his daughter in the blast, also demanded answers.

"Who bombed Daquq and tore our women and our sisters to pieces?" Daquqi said.

"We don't want statements and condemnations... We want an international investigation into the incident," he said.

Yaljan Mahdi Sadiq, a leading figure in the Daquq community, said that families of the victims had refused compensation from the Iraqi government.

"They don't want money, they want to know who committed this horrible crime against them," Sadiq said.