Hawija
| Hawija | |
|---|---|
 Hawija
|
|
| Coordinates: 35°19′30″N 43°46′20″E / 35.32500°N 43.77222°ECoordinates: 35°19′30″N 43°46′20″E / 35.32500°N 43.77222°E | |
| Country |
 Iraq
|
| Governorate | Kirkuk Governorate |
| District | Al-Hawija District |
| Occupation |
 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
|
| Time zone | AST (UTC+3) |
Hawija (Arabic: الحويجة, Al Hawyjah; Kurdish "hawij" for wild carrot) is the centre of Al-Hawija District in the Kirkuk province of Iraq, 45 km west of Kirkuk, and north of Baghdad. The town has population about 100,000 inhabitants.
Hawija district has approximately 450,000 inhabitants, about 98 percent of them Sunni Arabs and the rest mostly Sunni Turkmens. Most of the inhabitants live in rural areas.
Hawija is also called Hawija Al-Ubaid is inhabited by Al-Ubaid tribe, Dulaim tribe, Al Jubour, Shammar tribes.
During the Iraq War, U.S. and Iraqi forces experienced numerous lethal attacks in the area from Sunni insurgents. As of March 2006, the area of Hawija was considered one of the most dangerous in all of Iraq with US soldiers and the foreign press corps in Baghdad dubbing Hawija "Anbar of the North," a reference to the violence wracked province in Western Iraq.
Following the Iraq War, Hawija came into media focus on 19 April 2013, when an unprecedented amount of violence erupted. In the 2013 Hawija clashes between Sunni protesters and Iraqi Army, some 53 people were killed. Further associated violence brought the total death toll by April 27, to 215.
According to open sources on 23 April 2013, Hawija became the focus of violent anti-government protest and deadly Government intervention tactics which left at least 27 Sunnis protesters shot dead, exacerbating political division and sectarian polarisation within Iraq. Later death toll of protests was 53, while associated violence resulted in 215 deaths by April 27. This crackdown prompted Sunni tribal figures in the town and across northern Iraq to harden their rhetoric against Maliki’s government. Gun battles erupted across Iraq’s majority-Sunni cities between protesters and Iraqi Security Forces—including in Ramadi, Fallujah, and Mosul. From Jordan, influential religious figure Sheikh Abdul Malik al-Saadi said, “self defense has become a legitimate and legal duty.” Some Sunni tribes mobilized, declaring jihad against Baghdad.
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Wikipedia