Survey of people hit by tribal gunfire finds most want weapons in state hands

BABIL — Most people affected by tribal gunfire attacks in the Middle Euphrates want the state to control security and weapons, a University of Babylon survey found, with 76% naming state control and law enforcement as the main guarantees of social peace.

The field survey covered 100 people affected by tribal dakka, in which gunmen fire on a house or business to pressure another family or clan in a dispute, said Ammar Salim Abd al-Zahra al-Alwani, a criminal sociology specialist who supervised it. Of those, 69% supported ending the presence of weapons outside state control, and 64% said intimidation and psychological harm were the worst effects of armed tribal disputes. Seventy-four percent saw tribal leadership working within the law as contributing to stability, and 67% backed wider legal awareness campaigns. Alwani said the initial findings showed support for restricting weapons to state institutions.

The Interior Ministry said this week that 12 governorates recorded no dakka incidents during the government’s first 100 days, and it has prosecuted such attacks under the Anti-Terrorism Law since December 2025.

The findings come as the government negotiates with armed factions over their weapons. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set June 30, 2027 for completing the handover, after a 90-day halt to attacks from Sept. 30 and six months of transfers, and Reconstruction and Development bloc leader Bahaa al-Araji said a majority of factions had accepted the latest agreement while some still want two years.