Iraqi families torn apart by holiday resort attack say ‘they can no longer live'

Families of nine victims including a child call on authorities to bring the killers to justice

Iraqi mourners pray over the caskets of a woman and her niece, killed in artillery bombardment of a Kurdish hill village, at their funeral at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf. AFP

Iraqis mourn a victim killed in an alleged Turkish bombing in Dohuk city. EPA

Protesters pray near the old Turkish embassy building during a demonstration against an attack on a mountain resort in Dohuk. Reuters

An Iraqi police car hit during clashes between protesters and riot police. AFP

Security forces stand guard near the old Turkish embassy building in Dohuk. Reuters

Police clash with demonstrators in Dohuk. Reuters

Honour guards carry the coffins of victims, who were killed in an attack on a mountain resort in Iraq's northern province of Dohuk, at a funeral ceremony at Baghdad International Airport. Photo: Iraqi Prime Minister's Media Office

Funerals take place at Baghdad Airport. Photo: Iraqi Prime Minister's Media Office

Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi and Iraqi officials arriving to take part in a ceremony at the Baghdad Airport. Photo: Iraqi Prime Minister's Office

President of the Kurdistan region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani carries the coffin of an Iraqi killed in an attack on a mountain resort in Iraq's northern province of Dohuk. Reuters

The coffins of victims killed in a Kurdish hill village in an attack blamed on Turkey, are lined up on the tarmac before being flown to their respective cities from the airport in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdish autonomous region. AFP

A coffin is carried aboard a military plane for repatriation, at the airport in Erbil, Iraq. EPA

Mr Barzani attends the funeral ceremony at Erbil International Airport of those killed in the Dohuk attack. Reuters

A father stands near an ambulance transporting a coffin of his daughter who was killed in the attack on a mountain resort in Iraq's northern province of Dohuk. Reuters

An ambulance transports a coffin of an Iraqi who was killed in what Iraq claims was a Turkish attack on a mountain resort in the northern province of Dohuk. Reuters

Iraqis chant slogans demanding the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador outside the Turkish visa office in Baghdad, during a demonstration following the attack. AFP

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speaks to the media after visiting those wounded by shelling at a hospital in Zakho in Iraq's Kurdish region. Nine civilians including children were killed on July 20 by artillery fire that Baghdad blamed on Turkey, a country engaged in a cross-border offensive. AFP

Abdul Ameer Al-Shammari, deputy commander of Iraq's military Joint Operation Command, and Mr Hussein inspect the site of the attack in Dohuk. Reuters

Baghdad accused Ankara of carrying out the strike in Dohuk. Reuters

Riot police and protesters face off in front of a building belonging to the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad. The Turkish flag was taken down during a demonstration against the attack. Reuters

Demonstrators gather in front of the Turkish visa application centre in Najaf as they protest against the attack. Reuters

The cross-border offensive left nine civilians, including two children, dead, and 23 others were wounded. Reuters

A riot police officer stands in front of a building belonging to the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad during a demonstration. Reuters

Iraqi security forces take up positions in front of a Turkish visa centre in Karbala during a demonstration against Ankara's military offensive in Iraq's Kurdistan region. AFP

Gen Mohammed Al Bayati, the Iraqi prime minister's secretary, gives a statement after visiting the wounded at the hospital in Zakho in Iraq's Kurdistan region. AFP

A wounded man awaits further treatment at a hospital in Zakho after the attack. AFP

Saman Barzanji, centre, Health Minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government, visits the wounded at a hospital in Zakho. AFP

People gather outside a hospital in Zakho after Turkey shelled a mountain resort in Iraq's Kurdistan region. AFP

Families of Iraqi victims of an attack on a tourist resort in the northern district of Zakho are demanding that their killers are brought to justice.

Nine people were killed, including a child, and 31 others were injured when the rockets hit the resort on July 20.

Baghdad has blamed Ankara for the attack, as Turkey has launched incursions against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, inside Iraqi territory since the 1980s.

Turkey has denied it was behind the attack and instead accused the PKK.

The National spoke to two families who lost two members, one an 11-month-old baby and the other a 24-year-old woman.

Some of the victims were from the city of Hilla, located in central Babylon province.

Durgham lost his first and only baby daughter, Zahraa.

“You can see me alive, but I am like a dead body,” he told The National.

“My daughter was less than a year old, the family and I were waiting and preparing for her birthday party, so, what kind of life would we live after this big loss?” he asked.

“I cannot forget her image, her voice while playing at home, or even the last phone call with her when she can only say: ‘Baba’”, he said.

“I had not seen my daughter since she went with my family to Kurdistan, she was killed with the same clothes she wore at home”.

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency session to discuss the attack, according to Iraq's foreign ministry.

The family of Saja Mohammed, a 24-year-old woman killed in the attack, blame the tourism company for her death as they were assured the resort was safe to visit.

“The guide knew there was an attack in same resort two days before the incident happened but he insisted to bring us to the location,” Saja's mother, a 57-year-old homemaker who survived the attack, said.

“The guides had warnings of not going there to avoid being a target,” she said.

Saja's mother told The National that minutes after her family arrived five rockets hit the resort, and people were running with bloodstained clothes, others were killed and some drowned in the lake.

“We went six but came back home only four. They went alive but return in coffins,” she said.

Lots of people drowned in the nearby lake and are undocumented victims, said the mother.

“The numbers that were announced are inaccurate as the government is trying to minimise the disaster,” she claimed.

“If we have a really good government that takes care of its citizens, Turkey will never think to target Iraq’s soil, but all the politicians care for their own favour and ordinary Iraqis can go to hell,” she said.

Saja was unmarried and is now not able to finish her education. Her mother said she had a kind heart and everyone loved her.

“Saja loved to travel a lot with her family. She was very social and beautiful,” her mother said tearfully.

Saja’s mother and Zahraa’s father said they are not asking the government for compensation, only to bring those who were behind the attack to justice.

“Can money bring back my daughter or granddaughter to me? Of course not”, Saja’s mother said.

The coffins of Zahraa and Saja were draped in Iraqi flags and festooned with flowers, while hundreds of mourners took to streets of Hilla, where they born and raised.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi declared a state of mourning in the country following the attack.