Swara Khoshnaw, mayor of Choman district which covers Haji Omaran told Rudaw’s Hemin Baban on Friday that a farmer from the subdistrict “was working on his farm and found the remains of an Iraqi soldier,” adding that the “remains were later handed over to Haji Omaran police.”
The mayor explained that they had contacted the family of the deceased soldier who live in Ainkawa district. “It seems that the person in question was an Iraqi soldier in the area [Haji Omaran] in the eighties. We are in contact with his family to hand his remains over to them.”
Haji Omaran borders Iran, and is the location of Erbil province’s main border crossing with its neighbour.
Iraq and Iran fought each other for eight years between 1980 and 1988, resulting in the death of around one million people from both sides.
According to a document recovered with the remains of the soldier, his name was Musa Gergis Ako and he taught at Sula School in Sulaimani province’s Qaradagh district. The document was issued by the Iraqi teachers’ syndicate in 1979.
Issa Gergis, a brother of the deceased Christian soldier, confirmed to Rudaw on Friday that Musa fought in Haji Omaran during the Iran-Iraq war. “We learnt yesterday that his remains had been found after a copy of his ID was published on social media,” he said.
He also confirmed that Musa was born in 1955, and said that they will bury his brother at a cemetery in Ainkawa after legal procedures are completed.
