ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – An Iraqi police officer was shot dead in front of his home in Kirkuk’s Arafa neighborhood on Friday, with the interior ministry stating that the perpetrators were the victim’s colleagues.

Zaid Adel, a police officer and former director of the Arafa police station, was killed after armed men opened fire on the officer from their vehicle while driving past his home.

“Four bullets hit the officer’s body, but one of them struck his neck and led to his death,” a source from Kirkuk police told The New Region.

In a statement, the interior ministry directed the formation of a “high-level investigation committee” to probe the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The vehicle used in the attack, which had a fake license plate, was later found in the Taza district by security forces, containing the body of one of the suspects with a gunshot to the head, a security source told The New Region.

Hours later, the interior ministry announced that its investigation concluded that the murder of the officer was prompted by criminal motives, carried out by two of the victim’s colleagues following “a dispute.”

One of the suspects, who was found dead in the car, committed suicide according to the ministry’s account, while the other, his brother, was arrested and confessed to the murder.

The body reportedly belongs to Hazim Sabah Swedawi, also a police officer, who is believed to have committed the act alongside two of his brothers. While the interior ministry stated that he died by suicide, other sources claimed he had been killed.

A security source told al-Sumaria TV that the arrested suspect was caught on the road attempting to flee alone after killing the driver accompanying him in the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Ashourland, a local Iraqi independent news outlet, asserted that a third man, another brother of the suspects, was also arrested during the security forces’ operation.

Adel was a member of the Christian minority community in Kirkuk and held the rank of colonel. He is survived by his wife and three children.