VIDEO: Iraqi Turkmen politician killed in Kirkuk after distributing Turkish aid

Toygun Atilla ISTANBUL / HÜRRİYET

61-year-old Münir Kafili was shot in the head after unidentified gunmen attacked his vehicle in the military district of Kirkuk, June 23

An Iraqi Turkmen Front’s executive council member, who was in the committee that distributes humanitarian aid coming from Turkey, was killed after being shot in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on June 24.

61-year-old Münir Kafili was shot in the head after unidentified gunmen attacked his vehicle in the military district of Kirkuk, according to officials. Kafili died at the scene.

Münir Kafili, who was also the chairman of the Kirkuk district council, was in charge of distributing Turkish humanitarian aid in the city. He was jailed during the rule of Saddam Hussein for being a “Turkish spy.”

“As Turkmens, we are now in an ineffable sorrow. The situation is very tense in Kirkuk. Armed groups are everywhere, but they should know that we will fight until the last Turkmen falls a martyr,” Turkmeneli Health Council chair Aydın Beyatlı told daily Hürriyet, stressing Kafili was killed moments after participating in a meeting for the distribution of the aid that came from Turkey two days ago.



Tensions remain high in the Kirkuk district as clashes are ongoing between Iraqi forces and militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

ISIL militants, backed by tribal fighters, seized Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul on June 10 and have captured a number of other cities in the north including Tikrit and Telafer. They also reportedly control al-Qaim, Rawah, Anah, al-Ratba and Haditha in the western province of al-Anbar.

ISIL forces also extended their grip along Iraq’s Syrian and Jordanian border June 23 after taking control of border crossings, according to Farhan Ftikhan, the mayor of al-Qaim.