ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Arkan Sharifi, a Kurdish cameraman working with the Erbil-based Kurdistan TV was stabbed to death by a number of unidentified gunmen in the town of Daquq south of Kirkuk.

“Last night, a number of unidentified masked gunmen stormed the house of our cameraman Arkan Sharifi, killing him,” Karwan Akraiy, the Chief Executive Officer of Kurdistan TV, told Rudaw.

Akraiy went on to say “our employee was knifed to death before the eyes of his family.”

He added that police have launched an investigation into the incident and that “we are awaiting the result.”

A member of Sharifi’s family, told Rudaw on condition of anonymity that gunmen spoke Turkmani as they stormed the slain cameraman’s house.

He added after the killing, his body was disfigured by the attackers. 

Sharifi, 50, is survived by two daughters and a son. He had been working with the Kurdistan TV for 13 years. He was also head of a primary school in the village of Haftaghar in Daquq.