ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Kurdish MP and head of his party’s faction has died of injuries sustained in a car accident on the Erbil-Kirkuk highway while he was returning to the capital from Kirkuk. Shawn Qaladzai, a senior member of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement (KIM) and head of its faction in the Kurdistan parliament, died in an Erbil hospital on Tuesday, KIM member Abdullah Warti confirmed to Rudaw. “Today at 4pm, Shawn Qaladzai, head of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement faction in the Kurdistan parliament died,” Warti said. Qaladzai had visited Kirkuk on Monday after clashes erupted between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces. The city quickly fell to Baghdad after the Peshmerga withdrew. Qaladzai, 51, held a PhD in history.
