ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Thursday mourned two police officers killed by gunmen while on a mission to clear illegal structures in southern Baghdad, vowing to hold those responsible accountable. Four other Baghdad police officers were wounded in the incident.
The slain officer - Brigadier General Hisham Muhammad Talla, director of the municipality police in Baghdad's Karkh district, and officer Khalid Abbas Lafta - “were martyred while performing their national and professional duty … in enforcing the law and maintaining order," Zaidi said in a statement, adding that they were killed "at the hands of treachery and outlaws."
"We affirm that their pure blood shed upon the capital's soil will not be in vain," Zaidi affirmed, adding that "these treacherous attacks … will not deter the government from continuing its efforts to enforce the rule of law and hunt down those who tamper with the security of the nation and its citizens."
The Iraqi premier further noted that security agencies have been instructed to intensify efforts, cordon off the scene of the incident and "pursue everyone involved in this criminal act, bring them to justice, and deter anyone targeting state personnel or attempting to undermine the prestige of the law, without leniency."
Earlier in the day, Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister Hussein al-Awadi said "gunmen opened fire on police officers accompanying a municipal team removing illegal structures" in the Dora area of southern Baghdad, killing the two officers and wounding "four other personnel from the Federal Police and Baghdad Karkh Police Commandos."
"We have directed the formation of an urgent security and intelligence task force to investigate the circumstances of the incident, working resolutely to track down the perpetrators, arrest them, and bring them to justice," Awadi said.
The incident comes as Iraq continues to grapple with a widespread proliferation of unlicensed weapons, with an estimated eight million firearms believed to be in circulation. Successive governments have sought to curb their spread and impose tighter controls over arms possession to combat recurring violence stemming from criminal activity and tribal conflict.
The interior ministry in early August said it registered six million weapons across the country, setting an end-of-December deadline for all firearms to be recorded.
Interior ministry Spokesperson Miqdad Miri then pointed to the closure of 71 "fake headquarters claiming affiliation with the Popular Mobilization Forces [PMF]," along with "119 weapons shops and shops with expired licenses."
The Zaidi-led government has also set September 30 as the deadline for armed groups to lay down their weapons - a date that coincides with the scheduled departure of US and Western forces from Iraq, whose presence has been used as a pretext by armed groups to retain arms.
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