Commander of PM Abadi’s guards killed in confrontations with Shia militias in Salahuddin

Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) The Shiite militia of Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades) have accused the protection guards of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi of attacking the personnel deployed between Samarra and Tikrit in Salahuddin, which sparked confrontations that caused the death of the guards commander, Brig. Gen. Sherif Ismail Ebeid.

Speaking to Baghdad Today website, Mohannad al-Azzawi, media official of the militias in Samarra, said, “a parade from the cabinet, including big number of troops, was coming from Baghdad to Samarra. As it arrived at the central checkpoint in Samarra, the troops refused the measures taken by the security troops, composed of federal police and three personnel of the brigades.”

The troops of the parade, according to Azzawi, “opened fire against police and beat the brigades personnel and confiscated their weapons.”

A security source previously said commander of the 57th brigade of Abadi’s protection guards was killed, while two others were injured in armed confrontations with Saraya al-Salam near Samarra.

In December, Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the Sadrist Movement, announced disbanding the brigades, urging the members to evacuate its headquarters and turn in their weapons to the government.

The brigades took part in the summer of 2014 in liberation of regions in south of Salahuddin and others in Samarra and areas in its vicinity.