Second blaze hits Erbil's Auto Accessories Market in a week
Shafaq News/ On Sunday, a secondfire broke out at Erbil's Auto Accessories Market in the Kurdistan Region (KRI),just a week after a major blaze caused substantial damage.
Shakhwan Saeed, spokesperson for theErbil Civil Defense, told Shafaq News, “The fire was sparked by constructionand renovation work, including the use of welding equipment.”
“The incident lasted about 40minutes, and three firefighting teams managed to contain the blaze without anycasualties.”
On Monday, a fire at the same marketcaused significant damage but no injuries. Erbil’s local government has sinceformed a special committee to investigate and assess the damage.
Erbil has reported nearly 1,000fires in 2024, many attributed to deliberate acts or electrical faults. Themost severe incident occurred at the Al-Qaisaryah Market, where 227 shops andseven warehouses were destroyed, and 132 people were injured.
The Federal Ministry of Interior andthe Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Interior have arrestedindividuals involved in the fires in Erbil, Duhok, and Kirkuk. The suspects,linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), were planning attacks on marketsin Baghdad, the Ceyhan oil pipeline, and Erbil’s electricity network.
