Deadly Iraqi IDP camp blast targeted Kurdish security official: reports

The one-month-old boy and 12-year-old girl killed in an explosion at a camp in Iraqi Kurdistan were the grandchildren of the security force captain targeted in the blast, according to local media reports.
2 min read
31 August, 2021
Qadia camp in Duhok province hosts thousands of displaced Yazidis [Getty]

A deadly explosion at a camp for internally displaced persons in Iraqi Kurdistan's Duhok province on Monday night targeted a member of the Kurdish security forces and his family, according to local media reports.

The explosion at Qadia camp, home to the displaced members of the Yazidi ethnoreligious community, killed two children - a one-month-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, Kirkuk Now reported.

A Kurdish security force member had told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the incident was most likely caused by an exploding gas cannister. 

Security officials told local media on Tuesday that the blast occurred after explosives planted under the security captain's home were detonated.

The baby and young girl killed in the explosion were the captain's grandchildren, the outlet reported.

An official responsible for camp and IDP affairs in Iraqi Kurdistan said preliminary information did point to the detonation of explosives as the cause of the blast, but an official investigation into what happened is continuing.

Officials did not say who conducted the attack but media channels close to Erbil's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have cited security officials who blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The KDP has a strained relationship with the PKK, which has bases in Iraq that are frequently targeted by Turkey.

However, some Yazidis on social media blamed the explosion on Ankara.

Turkey has conducted airstrikes on the Yazidi heartland of Sinjar, including a strike on a clinic that killed four civilians and four members of a PKK-linked militia that falls under the state-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) umbrella.