
Fifty people killed, injured in huge fire at hypermarket in Iraq's Kut
Videos on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in Kut overnight, where firefighters were trying to contain the fire.
The Wasjit province governor Mohammed al-Mayahi said the fire broke out in a hyper market and a restaurant. Families were having dinner, shopping when fire broke out, he said.
Firefighters rescued a number of people and put out fire, the governor added.
Three days of mourning have been announced and an investigation has been launched. Investigation results will be released within 48 hours.
'A tragedy and a calamity have befallen us,' the governor said.
'We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,' INA quoted the governor as saying.
More to come…

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Unidentified drone kills PKK member, injures another in northern Iraq
An unidentified drone attack has killed a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and injured another near northern Iraq's Sulaimaniyah, according to security sources and local officials. The attack on Saturday was the first of its kind in months and occurred as the PKK has begun the first steps towards disarmament, ending its armed campaign against the Turkish state. The drone attack hit a motorbike in the area, according to Iraqi outlet The New Region. The mayor of Penjwen, in Sulaimaniyah, Hemin Ibrahim, confirmed that the drone targeted two people in a border village within the district, resulting in one dead, Kurdistan24 reported. 'The two individuals were riding a motorcycle when they were targeted. One was killed, and the other sustained injuries,' he told the news outlet. Ibrahim told Kurdistan24 that the strike occurred Saturday morning. No group or country has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. A small ceremony was held last Friday in Sulaimaniyah in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, where 20 to 30 PKK fighters destroyed their weapons rather than surrendering them to any government or authority. The symbolic process was conducted under tight security and is expected to unfold throughout the summer. The PKK announced in May that it would abandon its armed struggle in May, after 40 years of fighting. For most of its history, the Kurdish group has been labelled as 'terrorists' by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States. More than 40,000 people were killed in the fighting between 1984 and 2024, with thousands of Kurds fleeing the violence in southeastern Turkiye into cities further north. Turkiye's leaders have welcomed the disarmament process, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stating that the ceremony last week marked an 'important step towards our goal of a terror-free Turkiye'. A Turkish parliamentary commission is expected to define the conditions for the reintegration of PKK fighters into civilian and political life in Turkiye.


Qatar Tribune
3 days ago
- Qatar Tribune
Death toll in Iraqi mall blaze rises to 61
dpa Baghdad A massive fire at a recently opened shopping mall in the Iraqi city of al-Kut killed 61 people including 14 unidentified charred bodies, the country's Interior Ministry said on Thursday. The blaze erupted overnight at the multi-storey hypermarket in the province of Wasit, around 170 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, trapping shoppers inside the place amid rising flames and heavy smoke, eyewitnesses said. Initially, the death toll was put at 50. In an update, the Interior Ministry said the fire had left 61 people dead, mostly due to choking when trapped inside toilets as a result of the heavy smoke. Civil defence crews were meanwhile able to rescue at least 45 others, according to the ministry. The fire had broken up at a five-storey commercial building comprising a hypermarket and a restaurant that was opened to the public just seven days before the disaster, according to the ministry. Iraq's state news agency INA, citing an unnamed medical source, reported that 63 people were killed and 40 others injured in the fire. Interior Minister Abdel-Amir al-Shammari ordered the formation of a committee to determine the causes of the blaze. The dead included women and children, Wasit Governor Mohammed Jamil al-Miyahi said earlier, according to INA. 'We will not be lenient towards those who directly or indirectly caused this incident,' he said, declaring three days of mourning in the province. Al-Miyahi added that findings of a preliminary investigation into the incident would be made public in 48 hours.


Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Fifty people killed, injured in huge fire at hypermarket in Iraq's Kut
At least 50 people have been killed and injured in a huge fire at a hypermarket in Kut city in eastern Iraq, the INA state news agency has reported, quoting the province's governor. Videos on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in Kut overnight, where firefighters were trying to contain the fire. The Wasjit province governor Mohammed al-Mayahi said the fire broke out in a hyper market and a restaurant. Families were having dinner, shopping when fire broke out, he said. Firefighters rescued a number of people and put out fire, the governor added. Three days of mourning have been announced and an investigation has been launched. Investigation results will be released within 48 hours. 'A tragedy and a calamity have befallen us,' the governor said. 'We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,' INA quoted the governor as saying. More to come…