Sheelan Dara, a pharmacist, lived with her family in a house in Mansour neighborhood, near the Russian embassy in Baghdad, according to an official from the Interior Ministry who asked not to be named. “She was in her house with her parents when a thief attacked their house to rob it,” the official told Rudaw English on Wednesday.
Ashna Karim, cousin of Sheelan, told Rudaw on Wednesday that her uncle, his wife, and Sheelan were all killed inside their house late on Tuesday.
“We got the news on the evening of Tuesday that my uncle, his wife, and their daughter were killed inside their apartment in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood,” Karim said. “We were informed that my uncle and his wife were killed by a knife in the bathroom, and Sheelan was killed in her room.”
According to the Interior Ministry official, “Sheelan resisted the thief when he attempted to rape her and rob her of the gold she was wearing.”
The perpetrator killed Sheelan and “beheaded” her, then killed her parents “using the same knife he beheaded the daughter with,” he said.
An investigation is ongoing.
The Justice Ministry confirmed the crime had been committed, but declined to comment further when approached by Rudaw English, and the media department of the Supreme Judicial Council was not immediately available.
This is the second such murder in Baghdad this month. Last week, a family of five, a father, mother, and their three children, was shot in their house in al-Ameen neighborhood of southwestern of Baghdad. The gunman was apprehended by federal police in Baghdad on September 7.
Updated at 2:39 pm
