Two children dead in Duhok IDP camp blaze

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two children were killed after a fire swept through an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Duhok province on Sunday, a local official told Rudaw.

The fire broke out in Duhok’s Chamshko camp, which mainly houses Yazidi IDPS, burning several tents belonging to the displaced residents from Shingal. 

Two brothers, aged two and four, were killed in the fire, the head of Duhok province’s migration and crisis office told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali. 

Chamshko in Duhok province’s Zakho administration is home to nearly 23,000 Yazidis who fled their homes in 2014 as the Islamic State (ISIS) swept through the Yazidi heartland of Shingal, inflicting countless atrocities.
 
Many Yazidis and other Shingal residents still remain in IDP camps despite ISIS being driven away from their lands, as their homes are in need of reconstruction.
 
Fires are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region’s displacement camps. In December, a fire at Erbil’s Bahrka camp killed one.
 
Last May, a fire tore through Duhok’s Khanke camp, burning at least eight tents, without causing any injuries among the residents.
 
In 2021, an explosion at Qadia camp in Duhok killed two children, including a one-month-old baby, and injured two other children.