Baghdad-Iraqi forces threatened to internationalize the case of the displaced because of the violations taking place against a number of them, leaving many with unknown fate. They noted that the leadership of Fallujah’s operations handed the investigation with those fleeing Fallujah to unofficial parties, leading to abuse and violations against them.

Commander of Fallujah’s Operations Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi announced earlier that 1086 suspects from the displaced people were arrested.

In a press conference, al-Saadi stated: “The number of suspects who were in Fallujah and came out with the displaced families, according to what was reported by the Anbar police chief Maj. Gen. Hadi Rseg is 1086 people, and now they are being held in the Amiriyah Fallujah.”

Regarding the liberation of Fallujah, al-Saadi said that “encircling Fallujah was not expected by ISIS, which withdrew its militants to the city’s center.”

“We liberated the southern side of Fallujah, and ISIS’s killed militants will amount up to 1,000 terrorist when we storm the city,” he said, praising the support from Iraq’ air force and the international coalition.

Furthermore, member of the Iraqi Parliament from Anbar Province Ahmed Attiya al-Salman told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that investigating with the refugees and checking their documents and IDs, whether through database or through the course of investigation, aims at knowing if ISIS militants infiltrated the citizens to escape.

Salman said that militias couldn’t have done any violations if the liberation of Fallujah was carried out by the Iraqi army.

He said that the army that the army has started handling the investigations instead of the Popular Mobilization Forces militia, due to pressures exerted by Anbar lawmakers, coalition forces, and foreign organizations and parties, including Amnesty International organization, in order to guarantee safety procedures.