Last Wednesday, a 70-year old Palestinian refugee in Iraq was abducted
by a group that carried repeated attacks against the Palestinian
refugees living in Iraq. The man, Tawfiq Abdul-Khaliq, Abu Al Abed, was
found dead on Monday with clear marks of torture on his body.
Abu Abed is one of dozens of Palestinian refugees who were abducted, tortured and killed by unknown groups in Iraq.
Several groups voiced threats against the Palestinians in Iraq and warned them to leave the country or face death.
The Hamas movement, and several Palestinian groups, slammed the killing of Abu Abed and the targeting of Palestinian refugees living in Iraq.
The movement called on the Iraqi government, Islamic and national movements in Iraq to interfere in order to stop the attacks carried against the Palestinians in Iraq.
The movement demanded a probe into the incidents of abductions and killings of the Palestinian refugees in Iraq.
Also, Hamas appealed the Iraqi people to be united “in order to foil any attempt to create conflicts among them, and to unite against the American occupation there”.
Last month, an unknown armed group in Iraq fired mortar shells and rounds of live ammunition at a Palestinian neighbourhood of Al Baladiya an area in Baghdad, killing four Palestinian refugees and injuring at least eight others.
The shelled area is the biggest complex of Palestinian refugees in the Iraqi capital. At least seven mortar shells were fired at it. Dozens of families were displaced.
The Palestinian Information Center reported that armed militias gathered near the hospitals threatening to kill any Palestinian refugee who tries to reach the hospitals.
There have been previous warnings by militia men that Palestinians should leave the neighbourhood.
The Al Baladiya area used to house some 8,000 Palestinians refuges living in Iraq. Reports by Palestinian sources now say that there are about 4,000 remaining there.
Palestinian media sources reported that the Palestinian refugees in Iraq were attacked at least 655 times, and 164 refugees were killed, these numbers do not include the recent attacks.
