Kurdish health officials lower protest death count from 5 to 2

RANIYA, Kurdistan Region – The KRG Ministry of Health and local officials have lowered the death casualty for Tuesday violent protests in the city of Raniya to two, down from five.

Taha Mohammed, spokesperson for the health department in Raniya, had told Rudaw on Tuesday that five people were killed and 80 more injured after the anti-government protests in Raniya, the capital city of Raparin Administration, northwest of Sulaimani.

He told Rudaw on Wednesday evening that they had “mistakenly calculated” the death casualties as their hospitals were overcrowded by dozens of injured protesters.

On Tuesday evening, the public hospital in the city recorded five deaths “three of whom died of normal conditions” unrelated to the protests. He added that only two died from the clashes on Tuesday.

Dr. Khals Qadir, the spokesperson for Kurdistan’s Ministry of Health, also told Rudaw on Wednesday that they have recorded only two cases of death from Tuesday’s protests.

Mohammed, from the Raniya health department, added that the number of injured has risen to 87 following fresh protests in Raniya on Wednesday.

Anti-government protestors have continued for a third consecutive day demanding an end to wide-spread corruption, the full payment of reduced or delayed state salaries, and better public services such as electricity.

The offices of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) was set ablaze on Wednesday.

The Kurdistan Region maintains that continued budget cuts by the Iraqi government since early 2014, coupled with the loss of oil fields in the disputed or Kurdistani Kirkuk province in mid-October means that it cannot fully function, nor can it fully pay state salaries.