ERBIL, Kurdistan - German authorities arrested a Syrian national for the suspected murder of two Kurdish men in a refugee camp in Augsburg, Germany, police and prosecutors told Rudaw on Thursday.
The Augsburg prosecutor's office and the regional police confirmed the arrest of a 29-year-old Syrian national on charges of “double homicide” in a joint statement sent to Rudaw's Kehy Mahmoud.
According to the updated press release, the victims are a 39-year-old man from the Kurdish semi-autonomous region of northeastern Syria (Rojava) and a 54-year-old man from Sulaimani in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Police reported finding the bodies of the two men in a dumpster at 4 pm local time on Monday.
According to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 4,137 asylum applications from Syria and 1,485 from Iraq were received between January and April 2026. Newly arrived asylum seekers in Germany reside in reception centers for a period of anywhere between six and 18 months.
Police said the 29-year-old suspect and the 54-year-old man shared a room. Investigations in the camp are ongoing, pending the release of official information on the cause of the crime and the weapon used.
The Augsburg Criminal Investigation Department has been formed to investigate the incident. "This news has shocked us. My heart goes out to the families of the victims," Augsburg Mayor Derk Wurm expressed.
Shiyar Khidir, the brother of one of the victims, Sheikhmous Khidir, 39, told Rudaw on Friday that members of the family first went to Germany as asylum seekers in 2016. "We demand the punishment of the perpetrator,” his brother said.
According to the municipality of Augsburg, the camp has been evacuated after the incident and four residents have been placed in emergency housing by the housing office, while the others are staying with relatives.
The camp housed refugees from Somalia, Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and several other countries.
