ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Angry customers opened fire at an Erbil pacha restaurant early on Friday morning after being told it was out of food, the owner has told Rudaw.
Four people shot at Samal restaurant and adjacent eateries situated on the 30-meter-road in the city's Tairawa neighbourhood after staff said that they were out of food.
Pacha (Sarupe in Kurdish) is a traditional dish made out of sheep skin filled with spiced rice, especially popular in the wintertime.
“It was around 2:30 in the morning when four people came to our restaurant to eat pacha. When we told them that we are out of food, they started arguing and attacked two of my staff,” Sherzad Ismael, the restaurant owner told Rudaw's Payam Sarbast on Friday. “They tried to attack us with a gun, but my son grabbed the gun from their hands.”
According to Ismael, the four later left the restaurant saying they would soon return before returning with guns and opening fire at his restaurant and those next door.
“We informed police that passed by the scene, saying that they would come back for us, Ismael added, saying he was told to notify police “when they return.”
Erbil police spokesperson Hogir Aziz refuted Ismael’s statement in a phone call with Rudaw English on Friday.
“That statement is far from the truth. When the people came back to shoot at the restaurant, the owner and staff had left. What are the police supposed to do?”
Police have launched an investigation into the incident, he added.
"We will not allow these criminals to escape the law," Erbil Governor Hemin Qadir said in a Friday statement.
"We have given full authority to our Asaish [security] forces and police to pursue the case and arrest the people responsible," he added.
The owner of a nearby 24-hour restaurant witnessed the event.
“They came back with guns, and almost attacked us, but we said it was not our restaurant,” Nawzad Rashid, told Rudaw. “They then went on and opened fire on a bunch of restaurants in the area, during which we had to move the people in our restaurant to the roof for their safety.”
2020 saw an increase in reported gun violence across the Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani police spokesperson Sarkawt Ahmad told Rudaw English late November.
On November 22, a group of armed men, some dressed in Peshmerga uniform, attacked a Sulaimani restaurant owner over an alleged rental dispute with the landlord.
A cafe owner in Erbil was wounded in a gun attack at his business on October 22.
On October 15, three armed men entered a pharmacy near Erbil's Lawan City, physically assaulting its employees.
In a bid to decrease the number of guns in the hands of the general populace, the KRG in 2019 gave gun owners six months to register their firearms and give up their heavy weapons.
Despite the efforts, the Kurdistan Region is still home to multiple black markets where different firearms can be bought, including sniper rifles and machine guns.
Four suspects have been arrested, Erbil security forces (Asayish) told Rudaw’s Sidad Lashkri on Saturday, a day after the attack.
Updated on January 16, 2020 at 17:52
