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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two people were found shot dead in Halabja on Thursday, a police spokesperson announced on Friday.
The bodies of Diwan Hama Sharif, 41, and Hawkar Bakhtiar, 21, were found in Hama Sharif’s house on Friday. They appear to have been shot the night before by an unknown assailant.
“The two deceased are Kakai and are relatives of each other and were in the same house in Sharawani neighborhood,” Barzan Othman, spokesperson for Halabja police, said in a press conference on Friday.
“We have started our investigation and can confirm that the two were shot dead,” he added. “There were two weapons in the house, both of which have been fired. We have sent the weapons for investigation and will hopefully release more details soon.”
This year has seen an increase in reported gun violence across the Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani police spokesperson Sarkawt Ahmad told Rudaw English in late November. There have been several shooting deaths in the past few months.
In a bid to decrease the number of guns in the hands of the general populace, the Kurdistan Regional Government in 2019 gave gun owners six months to register their firearms and give up their heavy weapons. Despite these efforts, the Kurdistan Region is still home to multiple black markets where firearms can be purchased, including sniper rifles and machine guns.
The bodies of Diwan Hama Sharif, 41, and Hawkar Bakhtiar, 21, were found in Hama Sharif’s house on Friday. They appear to have been shot the night before by an unknown assailant.
“The two deceased are Kakai and are relatives of each other and were in the same house in Sharawani neighborhood,” Barzan Othman, spokesperson for Halabja police, said in a press conference on Friday.
“We have started our investigation and can confirm that the two were shot dead,” he added. “There were two weapons in the house, both of which have been fired. We have sent the weapons for investigation and will hopefully release more details soon.”
This year has seen an increase in reported gun violence across the Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani police spokesperson Sarkawt Ahmad told Rudaw English in late November. There have been several shooting deaths in the past few months.
In a bid to decrease the number of guns in the hands of the general populace, the Kurdistan Regional Government in 2019 gave gun owners six months to register their firearms and give up their heavy weapons. Despite these efforts, the Kurdistan Region is still home to multiple black markets where firearms can be purchased, including sniper rifles and machine guns.
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