A political party representing ethnic minority Turkmen in northern Iraq on Monday called for the creation of a Turkmen militia that would work alongside Iraqi security forces, following the murder of a leading member the night before

Below is an article published by the: Earth Times

A political party representing ethnic minority Turkmen in northern Iraq on Monday [23 November 2009] called for the creation of a Turkmen militia that would work alongside Iraqi security forces, following the murder of a leading member the night before. The Iraqi Turkmen Front made the call in a statement mourning the death of its Mosul representative Yawiz Ahmed Hussein, who was gunned down in front of his house in the east of the city Sunday [22 November 2009].

"Throughout this past year, many of the victims of terrorism and violence in Iraq were Turkmen," the group said.

In a separate attack on Sunday, Sheikh Fadil Jaroh, a leader of the Shabak ethnic minority, was killed in Majmoua, also in the eastern Mosul.

The city, located around 400 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad, and its surroundings are among the most ethnically diverse regions of Iraq. It is also among the most dangerous. Despite successive security pushes that police say have netted hundreds of suspected insurgents, gunmen continue to launch near-daily attacks in the area.