Iraqi soldier kills Nepalese woman in botched breaking and entering in Erbil

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Police in Erbil arrested a displaced Mosul resident after it was discovered he killed a Nepalese live-in housemaid after a botched burglary attempt, authorities said on Sunday.

The 25-year-old man, whose initials, M. A., were released, is an Iraqi soldier from Mosul with the Nineveh Operations Command who has been living in Erbil for the past four years. On Tuesday, he broke into a house in the Ganjan City Complex to rob the occupants, who were not home at the time.

“Footage we recovered from the CCTV cameras show that he knocked at the door, disguising himself as a worker collecting electricity payments. Since no one opened the door, he scaled the fence to enter the property,” Fakhraddin Nouri, the Director of Police in Erbil’s Ankawa district, told Kurdistan 24.

“The house belongs to a rich man from Baghdad… Nobody was home except the Nepalese maid.”

Nouri described how the would-be thief tied up the maid’s hands and locked her in the bathroom as he searched the house for money and other valuables.

“The woman began to scream and shout, fearing for her life. The man then opened fire on her and killed her,” he revealed, noting the perpetrator had already confessed to the crime.

The police officer claimed there was up to USD 30,000 in the house, but M. A. had managed to find only IQD 2,500,000 (about $2,100) before the situation escalated.

The man admitted he had picked the house based on its luxurious exterior.

The victim was a 33-year-old Nepalese national and a mother, whose initials were released as L.T. Nouri added that authorities are in touch with the Nepalese representative in the region.

“We have already begun interrogating the criminal to see if he has been involved in any other crime or cases of theft over the past five years,” Nouri affirmed.

Editing by Nadia Riva

(Additional reporting by Hero Mawludi)