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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A cafe owner was wounded in a gun attack at his business on Thursday morning.
The incident took place near Lebanese village, according to Haidar Salih, the owner of the Del Mar cafe, who said his cafe was attacked by five armed men.
Footage from surveillance cameras of the cafeteria shows the moment of the attack.
“A group of people came in with one wearing army clothes. I thought they are security forces. One of them said ‘we are in charge of the area and you should give us some money.’ They fired at the sky, a bullet hit me in the leg, and they hit me in the head,” Salih told Rudaw on Monday.
He also added that this is not the first time the gunmen have attacked local businesses.
“They came to the cafeteria next to me in the last few days, took the money and mobile phones and left later.”
Haider has filed a lawsuit against the gunmen and Erbil police have launched an investigation into the incident.
However, the men said to be involved have disputed Salih’s version of events.
“Two men were beating a man in the cafeteria. We wanted to stop them and they pushed Mahmood in the face. I later opened fire and shot Haidar. He was injured,” said Rekawt Khailani, who called into Rudaw’s Barpirsyar programme on Monday.
“While we were passing by the cafeteria, we saw the cafeteria owner with four other Arabs beating a Kurdish man, We wanted to stop them and Haidar punched me in the face. We later opened fire,” said Mahmood Kamaran.
However, Salih rejected Kamaran’s claim.
Presenter Shayhan Tahseen asked the men why they had not surrendered to the police, to which Khailani said: “I have respect for you and your channel but your government is a failure.”
“We have noted similar cases in the past few months. We have arrested the perpetrators of any incident that took place as soon as possible and have taken them to the court,” the mayor of Erbil’s central district Nabaz Abdulhamid told Rudaw on Monday
“Despite all these cases, I can say that Erbil is one of the safest cities and the police and security forces are carrying out their duties in the best way,” he added.
This is the third case of gun attacks in Erbil in the past two weeks, according to the mayor.
The Kurdistan Region is home to multiple black markets where different firearms can be bought, including sniper rifles and machine guns.
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