Sunni Iraqis return to Mosul

Called liberators, militants drop prices, restore services

An Iraqi girl from Mosul stands outside her family’s tent at the Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, Iraq. Iraqis are already being lured back to Mosul by insurgents.
An Iraqi girl from Mosul stands outside her family’s tent at the Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, Iraq. Iraqis are already being lured back to Mosul by insurgents.

KALAK, Iraq -- Days after Iraq's second largest city fell to al-Qaida-inspired fighters, some Iraqis were already returning to Mosul, lured back by insurgents offering cheap gas and food, restoring power and water, and removing traffic barricades.

Many people appeared excited to return, taking sectarian pride in the extremist Sunni group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Some see them as liberators.

"I hope God supports them and makes them victorious over the oppression of [Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki," said 80-year-old Abu Thaer.

He spoke at the Khazer checkpoint on the northern frontier of the largely autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, 65 miles from Mosul. Five veiled women and six children were crammed into the back seat of his car.

They were among tens of thousands of people who fled their homes as Islamic State fighters and other Sunni militants seized much of northern Iraq, including Mosul and Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.

Many Sunni Arab men and women said they left not because they feared the insurgents, but because of the risk of retaliatory airstrikes by Iraqi government forces.

"We see that they have made Mosul better," said Abu Mohammed, 34, a taxi driver who ferries returnees back to the city. "The water is back. The electricity is back. The prices are lower."

It wasn't clear how many Iraqis sought to return to Mosul. But during a single hour on Friday afternoon, an Associated Press reporter saw an 18-seat bus crammed with men, women and children, and their luggage. A taxi driver was making regular trips to the city. And about seven other families were crammed into four vehicles, heading home.

Many of those who fled said relatives who remained in Mosul began urging them to go back, saying the Sunni insurgents had restored power and water and were promising not to harm returning residents.

In a move that immediately improved their popularity, insurgents also emptied out prisons, said Abu Sulaf, 22. The young man said mostly Shiite forces had harassed and unfairly detained many Sunnis.

Islamic State fighters also removed concrete barricades that snarled traffic through the city and lengthened commutes, often by hours, residents said.

Returning residents said relatives told them the insurgents slashed the prices of key staples: A liter of gasoline for vehicles or diesel for generators, a necessity because of frequent power cuts, dropped from 42 cents to 30 cents, Mohammed said.

A canister of cooking gas dropped from $6.85 to $3.40. The fighters forced traders to offer vegetables and key foods at half price, he said.

News of the discounts, but not the exact prices, were echoed by other returning residents.

So far, only Sunni Arabs appear to be returning, suggesting a fundamental change to the city's demography.

Nazar Ali, a Shiite from the Turkoman ethnic minority, fled with his extended family, even before harvesting their wheat crop from a village near Mosul.

Other Turkoman families said Islamic State fighters were seizing their sons. Rumors spread that they were raping young women or seizing them for forcible marriage.

There was no hope of returning, Ali said. "It's sectarian. We are Turkoman, and we fear they will harm us."

Most returning residents, who appeared to be mainly conservative Muslims, shrugged when asked of the insurgents' warnings that they would soon impose their version of strict Islamic law, which includes ordering men to grow beards, making smoking illegal and forcing women to cover their faces.

"They aren't harming people," insisted 50-year-old Umm Ghufran, who was returning to Mosul with her extended family. She wore a Muslim headscarf, but did not cover her face.

Clean-shaven, smoking men said insurgents had not bothered them.

Videos uploaded to social networks showed Mosul residents excitedly greeting the Islamic State fighters, who rode around in large cars, their faces covered with scarves, proudly brandishing their assault rifles.

"Sunnis now feel more safe, much more than before," said Ouf al-Awaidi, son of a prominent tribal elder of the northern city of Kirkuk, whose ancestral village is now run by Sunni fighters. "If the insurgents remain like this, their support base will only grow bigger."

A Section on 06/16/2014

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