ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – At least four people were killed and 10 others wounded in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Saturday evening, after police response to a tribal dispute led to an armed confrontation between the security forces and the tribal gunmen.

According to the Iraqi interior ministry statement, a tribal conflict erupted on Saturday night in Baghdad’s Saada area. Amidst de-escalation efforts, the security forces were “subjected to a direct armed attack by the [tribal] elements causing the conflict,” read the statement, noting that the forces returned fire in an attempt to apprehend the shooters.

At least two were killed and five wounded among the police’s ranks, in addition to two killed and five wounded from the tribal gunmen. The security forces also arrested six individuals involved in the altercations, the ministry added, stressing that “the law will be applied firmly,” and appropriate measures will be taken to track down the perpetrators.

Unregistered weapons in Iraq stand out as one of the most pressing challenges to security and stability in Iraq, with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani repeatedly pledging to address the issue.

During a tribal conference in August, Sudani stressed that “in the current stable situation, there is no justification for the presence of any weapons outside official institutions, and tribes should support the authority of law and judiciary.”

Unofficial data puts the number of arms within the Iraqi society at around 15 million pieces of medium and light weapons, with armed groups and tribes possessing the bulk of them.

Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior announced in early March that it would continue to buy medium-range weapons from the public as part of the government’s efforts to confine arms to the state, while announcing the extension of a nationwide process for registering arms owned by civilians until the end of this year.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry announced a campaign titled “Restricting Weapons to the State,” to regulate weapons ownership in Karbala, where weapons owned by residents is registered officially in coordination with the local tribes.

Mansour Ali, a senior interior ministry official for weapons regulation, on Saturday told state media that, over the past five months, the ministry has went from registering 500 to 750 weapons per week to approximately 3,000 weapons per day.

Reporting by Hevi Karam