Gunmen kill Iraqi officer, injure two more outside Sulaimani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Local police in Kirkuk have announced that one of their officers was killed when unknown gunmen opened fire on him on Friday evening on the outskirts of the Kurdish province of Sulaimani.

Falah Hassan Khalil, a lieutenant in the Iraqi Directorate of Internal Affairs, was killed and two companions with him at the time of the attack were also wounded near a local restaurant, a security source in Kirkuk told Kurdistan 24.

The injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Chamchamal for medical treatment and local police have opened an investigation into the incident. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack and no suspected motive has been announced by officials.

Khalil was from the predominantly Shia town of Taza, located in the south of the multi-ethnic and oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

On Thursday, a roadside bomb exploded in a town in Nineveh Province, taking the lives of at least four students and wounding more as they were making their way to school, security sources said.

The blast came a day after Iraqi army chief of staff, Osman al-Ghanmi, visited Nineveh following warnings by Iraqi leaders that the security condition there was deteriorating. Speaking with reporters, he later claimed the situation in the province was stable.

Editing by John J. Catherine