Ninewa Governor charges 2nd Division commander for being behind attacks against demonstrators

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Northern Iraq’s Ninewa Province’s Governor, Athil al-Nujeify, has charged the Commander of Iraq’s 2nd Army Division, with having been behind attacks against demonstrators, whilst the latter denied the charge, but admitted that some of his guards had opened fire on the demonstrators.   “We accuse the 2nd Army Division of having been behind the attacks that caused the burning of the Ninewa Province’s building,” Nujeify told IraqiNews.com news agency on Saturday night, charging that the incident had been intentional.   Speaker Nujeify vowed that “severe investigation would take place with those who committed the said crimes.”   “The demands of the demonstrators are the duty of the central government, and we had demanded the release of the detainees from the prisons, the preparation of the Rational Card and putting an end for the offensives,” Nujeify said.   He stressed that “despite all the mischieves, the Trade Ministry suffers from billions (b) of dollars deficit, caused by its failure to satisfy the items of the Rational Card, such failure that burdened the central government.”   At least 6 demonstrators have been killed and 15 others injured, when fire was opened on the demonstrators in front of Ninewa Province Council’s building last Friday, when demonstrators broke through the building and set it on fire.   The Commander of the 2nd Army Division, Maj-General Nasser Ahmed Ghannam, on his part, held a news conference late Saturday night, saying that statements of the wounded persons and their families, had charged the elements inside the building and those that stood over its neighborly buildings, with having been behind opening fire on the demonstrators.   “We have documents and videos, showing those who set fire the Ninewa Province’s building, with policemen, guarding the building standing close to them,” he said.   Ghannam pointed out to “certain intelligence information, alleging intention to show images, showing Army troops with having carried citizens in military buses to attend the demonstrations,” saying that “those images are incorrect and had been taken from an old archive that showed Army troops driving citizens to the elections or on the anniversary of Imam Hussein’s 40th martyrdom day few months back.”   The Iraqi General had also denied reports about the existence of wounded persons among the security forces.   Mosul, the center of Ninewa Province, is 405 kms to the north of Baghdad.   SKH (TR)/SR 563