Kurdish fighters and civilians loot an Iraqi storage on the outskirts of the oil-rich town of Kirkuk

BAGHDAD, April 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The New York-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday, April 15, lambasted Anglo-American forces over failure to bring law and order to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, citing dozens of civilian deaths and widespread looting.

"Kirkuk right now is a tinderbox," said Hania Mufti, London director of the Middle East and North Africa division of the rights watchdog, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"U.S. troops must stop the violence. And Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leaders should take immediate steps to halt any expulsions of Iraqi Arabs from their homes," Mufti said.

Widespread looting and destruction of property are affecting all ethnic groups in the city, while the situation outside of Kirkuk appears even more precarious, he warned.

Human Rights Watch said one of its teams had documented the expulsion of Arabs living in villages south of Kirkuk, on the basis of what one official said were policy decisions by the PUK.

Since April 10, at least 40 civilians have been killed in Kirkuk, Mufti said.

Many of them appeared to have died as a result of clashes between armed civilians and the former ruling Baath Party.

According to forensic records, at least two died from close range single gunshot wounds to the head, and a third, whose hands were bound, bore lesions on the neck consistent with hanging.

Human Rights Watch said that the U.S. and Kurdish representatives should take steps to establish as soon as possible a mechanism to settle claims over disputed property and other assets.

On Saturday, April 12, the New York-based watchdog U.S. and British forces in Iraq must act more decisively to enforce public order in areas under their authority.

"Coalition forces have to stop the lawlessness now," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

"Restoring public order is an urgent matter and it has to be a top priority if serious harm to civilians is going to be avoided."

"This lawlessness is something for which the coalition forces should have been prepared," Roth said.

In a related development, residents of the Iraqi Arab village of Obeid, not far from Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, have taken up arms to protect themselves against Kurdish looters from the north.

They set up a checkpoint at a crossroad leading northeast to Kirkuk, in a bid to protect their village, which like the rest of the country is living in a security void following the collapse of the Iraqi regime.

"Those who are going straight to Tikrit don't have problems, we let them pass. But no one can go right" toward Obeid, said resident Emir Mohammed.

Near their checkpoint, armed Obeid residents have also taken up positions along the sides of the road.

"The Kurds want to steal everything from us, our new cars, our electric generators," charged Awad Mohammed.

Further up the road, an Iraqi military truck carrying a Soviet-built Sam missile lay overturned from U.S. fire.

Witnesses said looters in the area tried to carry off the missile, but without success.

"The Kurds also want my wife, to have fun with her, they also want the children. Why, I would rather kill myself than let them do that," Mohammed lamented, reflecting years of ethnic distrust.

One man on lookout announced that some looters were approaching. The twenty or so armed men ran to their positions, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

The fall of the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces late last week sparked a wave of looting in both places over the weekend, as well as violence, notably between Arabs and Kurds.

In Mosul over the weekend some 20 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in inter-communal fighting between Arabs and Kurds.