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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — One person was killed and five others were injured in a fight that broke out between neighbors in Erbil on Saturday night, Erbil police spokesperson Hogir Aziz told Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal.
“After the arrival of our team and an investigation (that lasted) up to seven in the morning, the result of our investigation shows one person died and five others were wounded in the fight,” Aziz said.
“We have arrested all the people involved in the fight between the two neighbors, which number six people,” he added.
The fight happened at about 11 pm on Saturday night in Erbil’s Qushtapa neighborhood and involved two neighboring families, the spokesperson said.
The incident occurred just hours after a woman was killed by her cousin in the town of Taq Taq.
Gun ownership is high in the Kurdistan Region and the government has struggled to bring it under control, limiting the number of privately-owned weapons. Firearms, including sniper rifles and machine guns, can be bought on the black market.
In early May, a man was shot dead in front of Erbil’s MRF Quattro Towers, a crowded neighborhood, in broad daylight.
“According to our research, 70 percent of the Kurdistan Region’s residents have weapons,” Tavga Omer, the general director of legal affairs for the Kurdistan Region's human rights commission, told Rudaw’s Ranj Sangawi in late April. “The existence of a law alone doesn’t really solve the issue.”
Under the law, persons over 18 who are permanent residents of the Kurdistan Region and have no criminal record or mental illness can carry a weapon. The law has come under criticism.
“There are some gaps in the law, that’s the reason why it is not implemented as it is,” Sami Jalal, an official from the Ministry of Interior, said in late April. “For example, there are so many exceptions. If you look at the exceptions, it’s half of Kurdish society.”
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