5 Iraqis killed in armed attack in Mardin en route to hospital

MARDİN

An Iraqi group of five people, who were on their way to a private hospital in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, were killed in an armed attack on early Jan. 19 in the neighboring province of Mardin.

The perpetrators of the armed attack on the jeep, which set off from Iraq’s Duhok Governorate, followed the vehicle from the Habur Border Gate, according to the local media.

The gunfire was opened from another vehicle on five relatives in the Artuklu district at around 1 a.m., en route to a hospital, where they had made an appointment for an examination in Diyarbakır.

The jeep hit by the bullets stopped on the highway after going uncontrollably for a while, after which the attackers got out of their vehicles and besieged them with bullets again.

Upon the notification of other drivers passing by, the gendarmerie and medical teams were sent to the scene.

The medical team found Hındreen Abdullah Salih, 39, Waheda Haedar Jasim, 63, and Abdullah Saleh Mustafa, 69, dead at the scene

The 75-year-old Chiman Shaheen Khalid and 45-year-old Ahmed Jalaladeen İbrahim, who were taken to the hospital, could not be saved despite all efforts.

İbrahim’s body will be brought to the Mardin Training and Research Hospital, and will be handed over to his relatives later, along with the bodies of the four others waiting there, and taken to Iraq.

The suspects, identified only by the initials M.Ş., F.A., A.Y. and A.K., denied the allegations against them in their statement to the police. Searches are also being made at the addresses of the suspects.

The camera recordings of the five showed that they took a break at a resting facility in Mardin’s Nusaybin district minutes before the attack. The 11:44 p.m. footage revealed that they were attacked 30 kilometers after they left the facility.

The suspects were identified from the City Security Management System (KGYS) and security cameras.