The joint committees of the Kirkuk governor's office have identified the source of the unpleasant smell, which had been bothering the residents in one of the neighborhoods for nearly two weeks.
The committee revealed that they seized a factory that had contaminated meat and chicken in Ihtifalat (celebrations) neighborhood.
According to Fatma Ali, a resident of the neighborhood, the smell had bothered them for about two weeks.
“We couldn't even turn on the air cooler because of the smell despite the hot weather because the cooler brings in the malodor.”
“So, all the residents signed a petition and handed it to the representative of the neighborhood and filed it to the Police and the mayor's office.”
Falah Yaichi, mayor of Kirkuk center district, told KirkukNow as soon as they received the complaint, they set up a committee together with police, environment, municipality and veterinary.
"We have managed to find the source of the unpleasant smell after receiving order by the judge,” he added.
When we entered, we saw that the factory contained several cartons of frozen meat and chicken, all spoiled
“The smell was caused by the contamination of food in a frozen factory. We went to the factory and saw it with our own eyes... We couldn't even approach the factory without masks,” he said.
“It was frozen, it was all dirty, it smelled bad all over the neighborhood.”
The mayor did not give any explanation about the owner of the factory and their investigations.
But Fatma Ali, a resident of the neighborhood, said they were selling the meat in the market.
Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed province for 1,7 million Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, and Turkmens. It has long been at the center of disputes between Baghdad and the Erbil.
Though the five oil wells of Kirkuk pump hundred thousand barrels of crude oil a day, the province misses proper utilities of power supply, drinking water, garbage collection, and basic healthcare and education system badly hurt by corruption and long years of war and instability.
Photos of the factory by mayor's media office
