A resident of Al-Ghazali village in Ghammas, Diwaniyah, patrols farmland at night with a rifle and flashlight, as locals take security into their own hands following repeated livestock thefts in the area.
Villagers in Diwaniyah village in nightly field patrols after livestock thefts
DIWANIYAH — Residents of Al-Ghazali village in the Ghammas district have taken up arms and begun nightly patrols of nearby farmland and orchards after a string of livestock thefts left the rural community on edge.
Dozens of villagers have joined search operations, firing warning shots into the air to scare off potential thieves and rally more people to join the effort. The latest search forced one thief to flee and abandon a cow he was attempting to steal. Villagers said he had already successfully stolen a cow during a previous raid without being detected.
“We live in a rural area, and this is the second time in a row our livestock has been stolen,” said Sarhan Dhiab, a local resident. “We want to know who the thief is. We can’t sleep peacefully anymore.”
Another resident, Hussein Talal, told 964media, “The thief managed to steal a cow the first time without anyone noticing. He came back a second time and tried to take another from the neighboring house around midnight. This time, people heard him and started searching the wheat fields. They found the cow, but the thief had escaped.”
Residents from Al-Ghazali and the nearby village of Al-Kaabouri joined the effort. Some reported seeing a masked man carrying a Kalashnikov rifle, believed to be operating between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.