nsnbc : Mohammed Younis Salih, the deputy head of Kirkuk’s state-run North Gas Company in Iraqi – Kurdistan, and one of the company’s employees, were gunned down in the city of Kirkuk on Tuesday.
The now deceased deputy head of North Gas Company (NGC), Mohammed Younis Salih, was a father of three and also the head of the company’s sports club. He was on his way to work Tuesday morning, in the company of another NGC employee, when currently unknown assailants opened fire on his car. Salih and the at the current time unnamed employee were shot multiple times.
The shooting happened near NGC’s headquarters in the Wahid Huzeyran area outside the city of Kirkuk in Iraq’s Kurdistan Autonomous Region. A member of the Kikruk security forces who was manning a nearby checkpoint at the time said that he saw a black car believed to be a BMW leaving the area at high speed after he heard the gunshots. Forensic teams have been seen at the scene.
In a press conference following the fatal shooting, Farhad Hama Ali, the spokesperson for the Kirkuk security service of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), described the incident a ‘terrorist attack”.
Ali referred to the continues presence of elements of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS – ISIL – Daesh) in Hawija, a town some 55 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk, and noted that there are numerous security forces in the city.
He added that the presence of different armed militia and security forces, as well as the presence of thousands of internally displaced Iraqi people make incidents like the shooting Tuesday morning more likely.
The security official also noted that the security service (Asayish) in Kirkuk (dominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party) has been able to capture 90 terrorists, criminals or people who were wanted by the courts. Of these numbers, “29 were terrorists, of whom 12 were ISIS militants who fought against the Peshmerga and the security forces,” in Kikruk.
The NGC sports club published a statement condemning what the club described as a terrorist attack. The club also called on authorities to identify and find the perpetrators.
While most officials refer to the incident as a “terrorist attack” and many refer to ISIL, it should be stressed that it is far too early to draw any conclusions. The investigation has only just started.
With the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) looking forward to a referendum on independence from Iraq; with internal rivalries between the KDP, PUK, Gorran, and others, disputes about parliament and the referendum, uneasiness between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, and with a high rate of crime, investigators will have to follow and investigate numerous other leads than a “possibly ISIL related” terrorist attack.
CH/L – nsnbc 02.05.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/05/02/deputy-head-of-iraqi-kurdish-north-gas-company-and-employee-gunned-down/
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