Crops Set on Fire in Disputed Kurdish Village

A fire burned a vast area of farmland in the disputed Kurdish areas of Kirkuk province, officials said on Tuesday.

Kirkuk Police Spokesperson Qais Abdulrazaq told BasNews that the latest fire, which is believed to be a deliberate act of sabotage, was reported from Shanishin village on Kirkuk-Erbil road.

He said the firefighters had rushed to control the blaze but it has already burned a vast area to ashes.

An investigation is underway to assess the scale of the damage, he added.

Since 2017 when the Iraqi Army took control of the Kurdish areas in Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Diyala, and Nineveh, every year with the beginning of the harvesting season, repeated fire incidents cause massive damages to the farmlands, especially those belonging to the Kurdish farmers.