Nikhaib massacre was a small storm – Maliki

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki declared today that the individuals arrested from Anbar were released due to a lack of evidence, pointing out that the Nikhaib incident was given more than its volume, and was “a small storm which is now over.” In a press conference held today with Parliament Speaker Usama Nujaifi, he added “this incident sparked severe reactions because the crime was ugly, and was directed against the Sunnis and Shiites alike. This indicates that the terrorists do not discriminate between one and another, but instead intended to create a crisis.” “We are sorry that some simple people wrongly calculated the event and regarded it as a Sunni-Shiite crisis and province-province conflict,” he remarked. He added that the legal approach resulted in the release of detainees, thereby bringing an end to the storm.  The Nikhaib area witnessed on 12 September, 2011, the hi-jacking of a bus carrying 30 passengers. The women and children passengers were left on the highway. The men were driven inside the desert and then murdered, 400 km southwest of Ramadi. The case was developed when a military force from Karbala province, following orders from Premier Maliki, in cooperation with Anbar Operations Command, arrested 8 persons from Rutba who were paraded inside Karbala in celebration for their arrest, a matter which aroused anger in Anbar province. Pro-government Al-Sahwa (Awakening) leader Ahmed Abu Risha regarded this move as “kidnapping,” and threatened that “the detainees should be handed over within 24 hours.” RM (TI)/SR   267