Kurdistan Parliament summons Peshmerga Ministry about warehouse blazes

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Tuesday, the Kurdistan Region's parliament summoned representatives of the Ministry of Peshmerga to clarify factors surrounding the recent fire and explosions that have taken place in munitions warehouses in Sulaimani and Erbil.

At 10:30 pm Monday night, a fire broke out at a weapons depot in the province of Sulaimani, only two days after a similar incident in Erbil.

The Sulaimani fire, occuring at a facility in the Tasluja district, resulted in four Peshmerga sustaining minor injuries. The Ministry of Peshmerga announced in a statement released afterward that it had started an investigation into the events leading to the blaze.

Fire and explosions at the weapons depot continued for approximately three hours and caused severe damage to the building, according to the statement.

On June 30, Erbil witnessed a similar incident in the sub-district of Baharka, the third weapons warehouse fire in the capital in less than three years.

Later that same day, in the southern Iraqi province of Babylon, a fire broke out at a munitions storage unit belonging to a Shia Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF) militia group.

The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary commission for Peshmerga and Martyrs' affairs have summoned Peshmerga Ministry to clarify the reasons behind the incidents.

“We have asked for clarification from the Ministry of Peshmerga. They have formed a committee to investigate the fire incidents, but there are no members of our parliamentary commission in their committee," Shilan Sheikh Jaafar, the head of the parliamentary commission for Peshmerga and Martyrs' affairs, told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday. "It should have been a joint investigation.”

“The Ministry of Peshmerga should clarify the incidents,” Jaafar continued. “What guarantees does the Ministry of Peshmerga have about the other weapons warehouses, that they won't meet the same end?”

The Director of Erbil Asayish (Security), Tariq Nouri on Saturday revealed the causes of the fire in Erbil’s weapons warehouse but added the investigation is still ongoing.

“The reason for the fire and explosion was the way the weapons and ammunition were stored,” he specified. “[Proper] conditions and mechanisms for storing weapons and ammunition were not taken into consideration in that facility.”

He also mentioned that live electrical wires were not appropriately routed. “We believe the fire and the explosion was the result of a technical issue.”

Editing by John J. Catherine