Sardar Sheikh Yahya, the mayor of Shekhan district, stated that "over a social dispute, a person killed his own brother and two sisters-in-law.”
All individuals involved were residents of the Kalakchi subdistrict, Yahya added.
The suspect, identified by the initials A.A., fled the scene and remains at large, while security forces continue to search for him, and an investigation is ongoing.
Local sources told Rudaw correspondent in Duhok, Ayub Nasri, that the suspect first visited his brother’s house, where he killed both his brother and the brother’s wife. He then went to another brother’s home in the same area and killed the second sister-in-law while her husband was not present. The suspect fled shortly afterward.
The two female victims, identified by the initials D.J. and S.A., were both born in 2000, while the male victim, L.A., the suspect's brother, was born in 1993.
Neighbors told Rudaw’s reporter that they heard multiple gunshots fired, and that a fire broke out at the first home, though the cause of the blaze remains unclear.
The incident has raised further concerns about the widespread availability of firearms in the Kurdistan Region.
Despite ongoing efforts by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to regulate gun ownership, illegal firearms remain prevalent.
An estimated 70 percent of the Kurdistan Region’s population is believed to own firearms, fueled by a thriving black market that supplies everything from handguns to sniper rifles.
Solin Hamadamin contributed to this report.
