Author: Bedad Mirzan

A stray dog in Erbil was beheaded by a man on Thursday upon advice from a sorcerer, sparking outrage among animal rights activists who decried the longstanding issue of religious witchcraft in the Kurdistan Region. The perpetrator has been arrested.  A slaughtered dog’s head was found on the roof of a house in Baharka, north of Erbil city on Thursday. The dog had been beheaded that morning and chopped into pieces by a Syrian Kurdish man after he sought help from a sorcerer to cure his wife’s inability to conceive a child, an issue she said has existed since the…

Turkey says it has carried out a number of air strikes on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, hours after a suicide blast hit the interior ministry. The government said 20 targets were destroyed and many militants from the banned PKK rebel group “neutralised”. The PKK said Sunday morning’s bombing in the capital, Ankara, was carried out by a group linked to them, a member of which blew himself up. A second attacker was killed by police and two police officers were injured. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is considered a terror group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US. Sunday’s…

Flash floods killed a woman and three of her grandchildren in Batman province, southeastern Turkey in the early hours of Monday, raising the death toll across the Kurdish region of Turkey to nine, according to Ali Yerlikaya the country’s interior minister. According to Yerlikaya, 11 others are missing. The bodies of the grandmother and her three grandchildren were discovered following an intensive search. In addition to the fatalities, the major flood has caused massive material damages, destroying 50 civilian households, according to figures provided to Rudaw by local officials, with those affected slamming the government for inaction. People no longer…

The lack of telecommunications services and internet signal in many of Batifa district’s outlying villages in Duhok province, resulted in a series of problems which drove local residents to call on the government and relevant authorities to resolve the issue for them. Shafiq Omar, a resident of Khizava village sometimes has to walk for more than a kilometer or climb on the roof of his house to get signal in order to make a phone call.”Look, my house is the one with the highest elevation compared to others in our village. Yet, in order to be able to make a…

At least 13 people were killed after a truck collided with a minivan carrying the teaching staff of a school in Basra province’s Safwan town, south of Iraq, on Tuesday. At least 10 teachers and three of their children were killed in the accident. The staff from Safwan’s al-Ibrahimi school were reportedly on a work trip when the accident occurred. Basra Governor Assad al-Eidani extended his condolences to the families of the victims, and announced a three-day mourning period across the province in their memory. Iraqi Education Minister Namis al-Jubouri also extended his condolences, stating that “words are not enough”…

Iraq must “tread carefully” as an involvement in the ongoing Israel-Gaza war will only increase the sufferings of the country and the whole world must instead work towards a ceasefire and a two-state solution, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said on Monday. “We in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region must tread carefully. We must not allow Iraq to be involved in this war in any way because it will lead to more problems, and Iraq will suffer a lot,” Barzani said at a regional forum in Duhok.Over 13,200 people, including more than 5,000 children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on…

Until recently, the United States did not officially confirm the transfer of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in order to maintain the element of surprise used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to attack Russian positions. The publication writes that the path to transferring missiles to Ukraine was long and difficult, but the decision to provide the missile was made on August 30. It was decided to transfer missiles of the ATACMS APAM type, capable of firing cluster warheads at 165 km. The administration’s decision to send the missiles was kept secret for weeks after President Joe Biden made the final decision, according to two…

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Thursday made an unannounced visit to Erbil, meeting with the Kurdistan Region’s top officials. Sudani was received by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani at the Erbil International Airport.The Iraqi premier held a meeting with Masoud Barzani, leader of the Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). “The meeting included discussions on a wide range of national issues, reviewing the progress of government program implementation, and addressing key security and political developments at the regional level. The ongoing tragic events in the Gaza Strip and the Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people were also a focal…

Erbil-based Kurdish counterterrorism forces on Thursday reported that two drones had targeted Harir airbase overnight, which houses US-led coalition troops, without resulting in any casualties or material damage. The airbase, located 77 kilometers northeast of Erbil city, was targeted by two suicide drones at around 11:30PM and later at 12:40AM, according to the Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD), also known as Kurdistan CT. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran and affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), took responsibility for the strikes in the early hours of Thursday, claiming…

Security forces (Asayish) in Sulaimani on Friday announced the arrest of 55 Islamic State (ISIS) suspects, including three emirs, in a five-month-long operation. The Asayish carried out tens of raids against several ISIS groups it claimed were planning terrorist attacks in multiple cities, the force announced in a statement late on Friday. The raids were carried out in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces and disputed areas of Kirkuk. The operation was launched following “an intensive investigation” and after obtaining “detailed evidence and intelligence,” said the Asayish. ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi land in 2014. The group was declared territorially…