Iraqi PM ‘thanks’ Masrour Barzani, security forces for ‘quick’ arrest of Kurdish family murderer
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi “thanked” Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and security forces for the “quick” arrest of the murderer of a slain Kurdish family in Baghdad.
“I thank the Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government Masrour Barzani and the region’s security forces” for the “quick” arrest of the murderer of the slain Kurdish family, PM Kadhimi tweeted on Tuesday night, and their “fruitful cooperation” with federal forces, he added.
Earlier, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) announced that its forces had arrested the suspect named Mahdi Hussein Nasser Matar, 36, in Erbil city center as he was attempting to secure a visa to travel abroad.
Matar, in his confession to the KRSC, revealed that he had murdered the entire Kurdish family after he asked the head of the household for a loan and he was refused.
“I took them both [dead bodies of wife and husband] to the bathroom when their daughter Sheelan saw me. I tried to calm her down while she was screaming, and I then hit her in the face twice. She fell and I suffocated her with a pillow,” Matar confessed.
Read More: Kurdistan airs confession by suspect in killing of Kurdish family in Baghdad
Matar, according to his confession, is a security member of Iraq’s Interior Ministry. He was one of the security guards at the Russian Embassy in Baghdad, close to the residential apartment of the slain Kurdish family. Security of foreign diplomatic complexes is provided by Iraq’s security apparatuses.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday evening praised the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in the autonomous region for arresting the main suspect in the killing of a Kurdish family.
In his statement, Prime Minister Barzani, who previously led the KRSC, said: “While we condemn this heinous crime in the strongest terms, we commend the security institutions in Erbil which managed to arrest the main criminal in a short period. Here, I warmly shake the hands of the heroes one by one, and we say to them: You are the source of our pride and honor.”
‘No Iraqi forces participated in the arrest’
Erbil’s Internal Security (Asayish) Director Dr. Tarik Nouri on Wednesday announced that the arrest was only conducted by Erbil’s Asayish forces.
“No Iraqi force participated in the [arrest],” Nouri told Kurdistan 24, as the arrestee was the only perpetrator of the crime.
“We arrested him before he attempts to escape,” Nouri added.
Funeral procession in Sulaimani
On Thursday morning, the coffins of the slain Kurdish family, wrapped with Kurdistan’s flag, arrived in Sulaimani province for funeral processions. A close relative of the murdered family praised the Kurdish authorities who arrested the perpetrator in “24 hours,” while talking to reporters.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany