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Arms trading, lax controls in Iraq inflated Daesh arms stockpile: Amnesty

Tuesday, 08 December 2015 6:52 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 December 2015 6:52 AM ]

This file photo shows Takfiri Daesh militants in an undisclosed location in Iraq.

Human rights group Amnesty International says reckless arms trading and lax controls in Iraq have resulted in a “large and lethal arsenal” of weapons at the hands of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

In a report titled “Taking Stock: The Arming of Islamic State” and published on Monday, Amnesty catalogued the various ways Daesh has accumulated weapons. The report, according to Amnesty, is based on expert analysis of videos and images obtained by the rights group.

It said the arms and ammunition at the hands of Daesh were mainly looted from the Iraqi army. The weapons, it said, were manufactured in at least 25 different countries, including the United States, Russia, and former Soviet Union states, over the past decades.

Amnesty blamed the easy flow of arms into Iraq for the militants’ “unprecedented access to firepower.” The arms flow was funded mostly by oil barter arrangements, Pentagon contracts, and donations made by NATO, the rights group said.

According to Amnesty, the Iraqi army’s stockpile swelled in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially around the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988.

“The vast and varied weaponry being used by the armed group calling itself Islamic State is a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale,” Amnesty’s Researcher on Arms Control, Security Trade, and Human Rights Patrick Wilcken said.

Members of Daesh and other terror groups operating in the region have also started producing their own improvised weaponry, including mortars, rockets, hand grenades, and other explosive devices, in crude workshops in Iraq.

Daesh militants have been carrying out terrorist attacks inside Iraq since June 2014. The group has taken over some of the northern and western parts of the country.

The militants, who are also active in Syria, have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians. Iraqi army soldiers and Popular Mobilization units have joined forces and are seeking to take back militant-held regions in joint operations.

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