Iraqi officers face prosecution for 2014 airbase massacre

BAGHDAD 

Forty-three Iraqi army officers have been referred to military courts after being accused of causing a massacre at Tikrit’s Speicher airbase, a local security source told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

On June 12, 2014, at least 1,700 people – mostly unarmed Iraqi air force cadets – were allegedly killed by Daesh militants at Camp Speicher in Tikrit.

In the one year since the massacre, observers have decried the Iraqi government’s "failure" to bring the perpetrators to account.

“Forty-three officers were referred to military courts in Baghdad, following a request by a competent investigative committee, after they were found guilty of causing the Speicher massacre,” the security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.

Another anonymous source declined to provide the names or ranks of the officers involved, but said they had been “responsible for the security file in Saladin last year”.

The source added that the officers’ testimonies had confirmed “that orders to retreat from the area were issued by the military field commands”.

According to Iraqi authorities, three mass graves – believed to be linked to the massacre – were recently discovered in Saladin province.

Iraq has suffered from a security vacuum since June 2014, when Daesh militants stormed the northern Mosul province and declared it part of its “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria.