ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A police officer was killed by an armed suspect while responding to a domestic violence call late Saturday in Sulaimani according to officials. Several others were injured.
A person who was subject to a complaint clashed with police units from Sulaimani’s Directorate of Combatting Violence Against Women who were in the process of arresting him, the directorate’s media head Jamal Rasul told Rudaw following the accident.
Police officer Mohammed Latif was killed and three others were injured, he added. The alleged suspect also set the police car on fire, Rasul noted.
The head of the city’s emergency services Saman Nadir confirmed to Rudaw that four people were injured.
The General Directorate of Combatting Violence Against Women launched a helpline at the end of 2018, aiming to provide callers with legal and mental health support. It did not disclose details of the domestic violence call Latif was responding to.
Gun violence is a widespread problem in the Kurdistan Region, with the government’s gun-control measures doing little to counter the proliferation of weapons. Civilians can often go through personal connections to get permission to carry firearms. Weapons, including sniper rifles and machine guns, can also be bought on the black market.
The Kurdistan Region parliament is considering a new law that will impose tighter regulations for obtaining a gun license in order to bring gun violence under control.
Under the current law, anyone arrested with a gun without a government license will be jailed for a maximum of one year, but the Kurdistan Region parliament is currently considering a law that would sentence non-licensed gun owners to imprisonment for up to three years, and require them to pay a fine of 500,000 to one million dinars.
In May, Interior Minister Reber Ahmed said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) plans to tighten its gun control laws, but cannot promise a complete end to gun markets.
Gun-related deaths for 2021 in the Kurdistan Region have increased 50 percent compared to the year before, Shakhawan Rauf Bag, the head of the Kurdistan parliament’s Peshmerga, Interior, Security, and Local Councils Committee said in April.
Three people were killed and several were injured in an armed clash between two families in Erbil province’s Harir sub-district in October. The feud led to further deaths.
