Four killed, seven injured in Sulaimani family dispute

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Four people were killed and seven others injured on Friday in a clash between two families over a land dispute in Sulaimani province’s Garmiyan administration, an official said.

“There was a property dispute between the two families and their case was in court, but today, before the case was resolved, it turned into a fight, and four people were killed,” Jamal Mam Salih, mayor of the Garmiyan Independent Administration’s Rizgari district, told Rudaw, adding that four others were injured, with two in serious condition.

Rafiq Qadir, director of Shahid Hazhar Hospital - where some of the victims were taken, confirmed to Rudaw that four people were killed and seven were injured from both families.

Rudaw has learned that three of those killed were brothers and the fourth was their cousin, and that two people in connection with the incident have been arrested.

According to a relative of one of the victims, the two families have had a longstanding dispute.

The Garmiyan Police Directorate said the four fatalities were from one family, while six members of the other family were injured and transferred to Sulaimani hospital due to the “severity of their wounds.”

Police said an investigation file has been opened by court order.

Firearms are widely available in the Kurdistan Region, with a black market where sniper rifles and machine guns can be purchased. An estimated 70 percent of the population owns weapons.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has sought to regulate gun ownership, but shootings remain a persistent security concern.