Armed men in Peshmerga uniform attack Sulaimani restaurant owner

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A group of armed men, some dressed in Peshmerga uniform, attacked a Sulaimani restaurant owner on Sunday allegedly over a rental dispute with the landlord, according to the assault victim.

“They hit me in the neck and stomach, and aimed at me saying that they will kill me in the afternoon,” said Kamaran, the owner of a restaurant by the same name, at a press conference. “Why are they going to kill us? I have left their building and this is my new restaurant. We have done everything legally.”

CCTV footage of the attack acquired by Rudaw shows a number of the attackers were dressed in Peshmerga uniform.

“The people who attacked and the landlord are arrested and will be interrogated,” Brigadier General Aso Sheikh Taha, the head of Sulaimani Police, told Rudaw. He did not specify whether the attackers were Peshmerga.

Zana Kamal, a representative for the landlord, denied the assault accusation.

“We are not the type of people to attack them, and if he has any evidence, he can take it to court,” he said. “The man (Kamaran) had been informed to leave the place, and he accepted.”

“When we rent a place to someone, out of courtesy, they should hand it back to us the way we gave it to them. But this man tore down the building,” Kamal added.

The Kurdistan Region gun market is yet to be controlled despite several attempts by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

In a bid to decrease the number of guns in the hands of the general populace, the KRG gave gun owners six months to register their firearms and give up their heavy weapons back in 2019.

Despite the efforts, the Kurdistan Region is home to multiple black markets where different firearms can be bought, including sniper rifles and machine guns.

A cafe owner in Erbil was wounded in a gun attack at his business in October.

On October 15, three armed men entered a pharmacy near Erbil's Lawan City, physically assaulting its employees.

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