BAGHDAD

The Iraqi parliament Saturday voted to recognize the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia as an official force.

Some 208 MPs of the 328-seat parliament attended Saturday’s vote, which was boycotted by Sunni lawmakers.

“The security and defense committee with the participation of relevant panels has managed to issue the Hashd al-Shaabi legislation,” lawmaker Hakim al-Zamli told reporters.

He called on the government to finalize the structure and appointments of the militia leaders.

Established in 2014, the Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias drawn up with the purpose of fighting the Daesh terrorist group.

“The Council of Representatives (parliament) has fulfilled its responsibility toward the mujahideen (fighters),” Ammar al-Hakim, the head of the Shia National Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, said.

Saturday’s vote came despite a call by the Iraqi cabinet for withdrawing the bill for further study.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi has been controversial, since the Shia militia has been accused in the past of committing rights violations against Sunni-Muslim populations in areas taken from Daesh, including Iraq’s western city of Fallujah.

Iraq’s security situation has deteriorated markedly since mid-2014, when Daesh captured Mosul -- Iraq’s second largest city -- and overran large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

Reporting by Muayed al-Tarafi; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat;