ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Seven people have been killed and three injured in a shooting in Khanaqin, local police have confirmed. 

Farhad Rafaat, of the Khanaqin police, said that a shop was targeted in the Bakhtiyari neighborhood, south of Khanaqin.

At around 9:40pm on Thursday evening, “some armed men shot at a store with an AK47 from two cars, and as a result seven people were killed and three injured,” Rafaat told Rudaw. 

The shooters took off. 

“All forces are dispersed in the city and they have started searching for those who committed the crime,” said Rafaat.

Dr. Khalid Ali, head of Khanaqin hospital, told Rudaw that “The bodies of seven people from Khanaqin were brought to the general hospital of Khanaqin and there are bullet shards on their bodies. Three others are injured and are been treated, but their condition is unstable.”

An investigation is underway. 

Khanaqin is in Diyala province, 240 kilometres southeast of Erbil, near the border with Iran and within the disputed areas.