ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Region’s local security forces (Asayish) in Sulaimani’s Chamchamal on Monday announced that they had arrested a man and a woman who allegedly murdered a disabled child in Diyala before fleeing to the Kurdistan Region.

After news of a child murder started circulating earlier this week, the suspects allegedly fled toward the Kurdistan Region, according to Iraqi intelligence, leading to security forces in the Region conducting “detailed tracking and intelligence” gathering to locate the two suspects, according to a statement by the Asayish.

The Asayish’s General Directorate of Operations was able to arrest the two individuals, a man and a woman, in Sulaimani’s Chamchamal on Sunday, the statement read, noting that “after investigation, both murder suspects will be handed over to Iraqi security forces.”

The arrested pair are currently in custody under Article 405 under the Iraqi Penal Code, and an investigation into the case is still ongoing, the statement adds.

Authorities in Baghdad and Erbil have repeatedly stressed the importance of coordination between the security agencies of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

In a March meeting in Erbil, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Hamid al-Shatri, head of Iraq’s National Intelligence Service, stressed the need for increased coordination between Erbil and Baghdad in order to bolster security in the country.

Suspects implicated in illegal activities in Iraq have time and again fled to the Kurdistan Region in an attempt to flee from Iraqi security forces, where they have been apprehended by the Region’s security apparatus.

In April, Erbil Police arrested two suspects charged with killing an Iraqi army soldier in Baghdad. The two suspects, who had killed the soldier in the Iraqi capital in broad daylight, managed to exit Baghdad and make their way into the Kurdistan Region, where they were arrested in a hotel after Iraqi security forces sent their names and addresses to Kurdish authorities.