DUBAI, UAE - Security forces in Baghdad on Wednesday announced arresting five people accused of assaulting a school principal in Sadr City, east of the capital. The principal was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Baghdad Operations Command said in a statement that their forces carried out the arrests after receiving information about a fight inside a school. The suspects allegedly physically assaulted the principal during school hours.

“The patrols immediately moved to the site and arrested all of them,” read the statement, adding that legal action has begun after the principal’s family filed a lawsuit.

The incident comes on the same day Iraq’s Education Minister Ibrahim Namis al-Jabouri ordered the creation of an urgent legal committee after another case of violence against a teacher in Karbala.

Footage from inside an educational institution in Karbala circulated on Wednesday, depicting a female teacher being knocked to the ground after being pushed by a man, reportedly the guardian of one of the students.

The Education Ministry said in a statement that the minister insisted on “preserving the dignity and authority of Iraqi teachers” and warned against tolerating such attacks.

Wameedh Khalil al-Tamimi, head of Karbala’s education directorate, along with Teachers’ Syndicate chief Khalid Mar’i and several educators, visited the institution to review the case and conveyed the minister’s instructions to pursue the matter in court and ensure the teacher’s rights are protected.