The clash in Chamchamal’s Shorsh subdistrict resurfaced after a longstanding “social dispute” resurfaced between the two families and they shot at each other’s land.
Hauta Aziz, mayor of Shorsh subdistrict, told Rudaw that the two families are cousins and “two of the dead are brothers,” with the deceased identified as Hemin Mohammed, Shorsh Mohammed, and Salih Sharif.
One of the victim’s mother told Rudaw that her son went to water his garden and have dinner when he encountered the incident and was shot dead.
Another dispute in Duhok province’s Bardarash on Saturday over the construction of a road led to a clash between two families, and six were injured.
Bardarash police chief Arif Goran told Rudaw that nine people have been arrested from both sides of the dispute and an investigation is underway.
The Kurdistan Region has faced a spike in killings recently. On Wednesday, a man from Sulaimani’s Said Sadiq returning from the UK shot dead five of his family members before killing himself in a murder-suicide.
A week prior, a doctor was arrested in Erbil after killing his wife, her parents, and her sister using a pistol.
Firearms are easily purchased in the Kurdistan Region and there is a black market where sniper rifles and machine guns can be found for sale. An estimated 70 percent of the population own weapons.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has tried to regulate gun ownership, but shootings remain a security problem.
