The body of a young man was found in Khanaqin district of Diyala province, with signs of torture. The victim was identified as Hawraz Hussamadin, a teacher from the adjacent Kalar district of Garmian of Sulaimaniya northern Province.
The body was discovered near the Khanaqin silo on Wednesday morning, July 30, and was later identified by his family through a police report. The body, lacking identification papers, was taken to the Forensic Medicine Department in Baqubah for further examination.
A security source in Khanaqin mentioned that signs of torture were evident on the victim's neck and back, indicating a possible criminal act. However, investigations are ongoing to determine the exact circumstances of the incident.
Kirkuk Now correspondent, Amir Khanaqini, reported that the body may be released to the family for burial, while security forces continue their investigation to identify the perpetrator. Khanaqin District, home to 90,000 Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens, Muslim Sunnis and Shias, is part of Diyala province and is one of the disputed territories which extends from Khanaqin, east of Baghdad, on the border with Iran, through the northern, multi-ethnic, oil-rich city of Kirkuk up to Shingal (Sinjar), home to the Ezidi (Yazidi) community, in Mosul, in the far west, on Iraq-Syria borders.
Most of the disputed territories were under control of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces up to October 2017, when the Iraqi Security Forces ISF took over control of these territories following the defeat of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS.
