The Assyrian people in Iraq mourns Colonel Zaid Adel Subaih Jirjis, a police official who was killed on Friday, 19 December, as a result of a shooting in Kerkheslokh (Kirkuk), Iraq, while carrying out his duties. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior said that the team assigned to investigate the circumstances surrounding the murder believes, based on its preliminary investigations, that the motives behind the killing are criminal in nature.

According to the findings, two other police officers from Kerkheslokh, who are brothers, carried out the killing after a personal dispute. After shooting Zaid Adel Subaih Jirjis, father of three children, they fled the scene. A source within the Kerkheslokh police, speaking to the Rudaw Network on condition of anonymity, said that three individuals drove an Opel vehicle and opened fire on Zaid Adel Subaih Jirjis, hitting him with four bullets, one to the neck and three to the chest.

The police investigation team succeeded in identifying the perpetrators after circulating the description of their vehicle. It was later determined that one of them committed suicide, while the second individual was arrested and confessed to their involvement in the murder. In addition, the ministry arrested a third brother, who was with one of the suspects at the time of his arrest.

Worth to note that the two suspects had previously been convicted in a forgery case but were later released under a recent presidential amnesty decision.