The shooting at approximately 1:00 am occurred between two students and two merchants, and led to a merchant, 20, succumbing to his injuries while three others, aged 15, 17, and 20, were wounded, according to a statement from Ranya police.
The wounded victims were transported from Ranya’s general hospital to Sulaimani due to the severity of their injuries.
The suspects involved in the incident have been arrested, police said.
The cause of the incident remains unknown.
The Kurdistan Region has long maintained a lax firearms black market, where sniper rifles and machine guns are purchased in a region where an estimated 70 percent of the population own weapons.
Despite the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) efforts to regulate and reduce violent incidents, shootings remain problematic in the Region.
Last year, the KRG’s deadline for gun owners to register their weapons expired.
Article 15 of the Kurdistan Region’s Weapons Law, passed in 2022, stipulates that “any individual, who does not own a license, carries, sells, repairs or gives out a gun will be jailed for one to three years and fined two million to five million dinars (about $1,500 - $3,800).”
