The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported on Wednesday evening that
armed militias in Iraq shelled a Palestinian compound in Baghdad
killing five Palestinian refugees and injuring at least 25 others, in
addition to causing considerable damage to the property.
The Palestinian Refugees Union in Europe issued a press release stating that the “criminal militias fired three mortar shells at the Palestinian residential compound” in Al Baladiyyat area in Baghdad.
A total of ten shells were fired at the Palestinian compound on Wednesday, the agency added.
The Union called on the Palestinians to attend an urgent meeting on January 12. 2007 in its permanent headquarters in Sweden in an attempt to find a solution to the increasing crises of the refugees in Iraq and on its borders.
On November 27, 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 some days later 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.
In October, 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.
At least 165 Palestinian refugees were killed in Iraq this year by militias that carried at least 655 attacks.
