Kurdish boy, 4, dies of a stroke weeks after death of his Peshmerga father

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Bryar, a 4-year-old Kurdish boy from Kifri town, died from a brain stroke on Sunday weeks after his father, a Peshmerga fighter, was killed in an Islamic State attack. 

Bryar’s father, Jalal Masoyi, died during an attack on Kulajo on July 31.

READ MORE: Four killed in clashes between ISIS, Kurdish security near southern Kifri town

“Bryar had a very close relationship with his father,” a family member told Kurdistan 24. “He kept saying that he misses his father, and was asking why he was not coming home.”

After he was informed that his father was dead and would not be returning home, the young child became “so depressed” he began “avoiding eating food,” his relatives said.

He was hospitalized for days in Sulaimani after his family saw him foaming at the mouth while sleeping.

On Sunday, his family told local media that Bryar died in the hospital and would be buried next to his father in Sulaimani’s Saywan graveyard.

Bryar’s tragic story quickly dominated Kurdish social media platforms, with people extending their condolences to the family.

The local administration of Garmian decided to name a school in the area after Bryar.

Since the emergence of the Islamic State in 2014, around 2,000 Peshmerga fighters have fallen while fighting the terrorist group, and over 10,000 more have been injured, according to the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Ministry.

Iraq declared military victory over the Islamic State in late 2017. However, senior Kurdish and Iraqi officials continuously warn of a resurgence as the group continues to carry out insurgency attacks, ambushes, and kidnapping in the country.

Editing by Nadia Riva