ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two members of Sulaimani’s local security forces (Asayish) were killed in the Qaradagh district on Friday in a clash with a group of armed men accused of looting an archaeological site.
“A team from Qaradagh Asayish was on duty, protecting the security and stability of the area and monitoring an archeological site. A number of armed people were in the archeological site in order to excavate and loot the Naram-Sin archaeological site,” the Asayish said in a statement.
Naram-Sin was a powerful king of the Akkadian Empire.
The armed individuals opened fire on Asayish, killing two, added the statement.
The Asayish are pursuing the attackers, but no one has been arrested yet, Salam Abdulkhaliq, from the Asayish media team, told Rudaw.
There are scores of archaeological sites in the Kurdistan Region and they are often subject to looting or vandalism.
