Basra in shock after 13 Iraqis killed in murder-suicides

In a devastating turn of events, a father in Iraq’s southern province of Basra allegedly killed his entire family, including a two-year-old baby, before taking his own, reports said. Iraqi officials.

The incident, which occurred Wednesday evening, shocked the country, leaving authorities and citizens scrambling for answers.

Colonel Muqdad Miri, spokesman for the Interior Ministry and Media Security Cell, told Iraqi state media that the father, whose identity has not yet been publicly revealed, committed the crime. horrible act around 9:30 p.m. local time.

Armed with a rifle, the father shot dead all 12 members of his family before turning the weapon against himself. The massacre took place in a neighborhood in the Shatt al-Arab district of Basra province. Basra police have opened an investigation, Miri added.

The spokesperson said initial investigations indicate financial problems could be behind the incident.

However, residents of the neighborhood, interviewed by local Iraqi media, expressed skepticism about the official explanation. They emphasized that the father had no apparent financial problems and maintained a devout religious routine of prayer and fasting.

Furthermore, many Iraqi social media users echoed these doubts, suggesting that the tragedy could be the result of a premeditated crime orchestrated by armed militias.

The incident reflects a broader trend in Iraq, with numerous cases of massacres and killings of civilians in recent years, highlighting a worrying increase in crime rates. The prevalence of drug use compounds the problem, further hampering law enforcement efforts to combat the activities of militias and drug cartels.

In February 2023, nine people were killed in an attack on a farm in Iraq’s northeastern province of Diyala, officials said.