Shock befell Basra and Iraq on Wednesday night when a father killed 12 members of his own family before taking his own life.

According to information obtained by The New Region, the father opened fire on his family, consisting of 12 individuals, including children, women, and a one-year-old baby, inside their home in the al-Muwazafin neighborhood of Shatt al-Arab district, in Basra province.

According to sources who spoke to The New Region from the incident site, the father was burdened with financial debts estimated at over one billion Iraqi dinars, due to psychological pressures, he opened fire on his family and then committed suicide.

Initially, when the video footage surfaced, rumors swirled suggesting that an armed group was responsible for the massacre of the twelve members of a single family.

However, later, the Basra police issued a statement on Wednesday refuting these rumors, confirming instead that the father had perpetrated the crime.

“Some media outlets and social media platforms have circulated news claiming that armed individuals were responsible for the killing of a family in the Shatt al-Arab district,” read the police statement. “We hereby refute this news and wish to clarify that the father committed the murder of his family and subsequently took his own life in the Shatt al-Arab district, specifically in the area of al-Muwazafin, due to psychological issues stemming from financial crisis.”

“We urge media outlets and esteemed citizens to obtain information from reliable sources and exercise caution when disseminating news,” the statement added.

The Basra Province Police attended the scene of the incident, initiating a comprehensive investigation and transferred the bodies to the forensic department to complete the necessary legal procedures.

Shocking footage on social media captures the aftermath of a tragic incident in #Basra province, where a father took the lives of his 12 family members, including a one year old baby, before ending his own life. Reports indicate that financial difficulties and debts have driven… pic.twitter.com/tTVbuCNIif

— The New Region (@thenewregion) May 8, 2024

The office of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee in Basra reaffirmed the reasons behind the father's killing of his family, stating, “the father was in debt of around two billion dinars, and he handed the money to another person, who then executed a scam and fled to an unknown location.”

The office director, Ali al-Kanaan, stated in a press release that “the father was married to two women, one of whom (the younger) was of Syrian nationality. He took all her gold to sell it, then returned to his first family [other wife family] in a state of collapse.”

The individual killed members of his family from his first wife “due to his inability to bear responsibility, according to an analysis of the situation, and then committed suicide.”

“Before committing the crime, he left a message to a close friend of his, entrusting him with (take care of my other wife), referring to the Syrian woman,” Kanaan added. “These pieces of information are considered final results after thorough investigation, gathering, and cross-referencing of information about the perpetrator's family and the victims simultaneously.”

The New Region contacted two neighbors of the perpetrator, who both expressed the profound tragedy of the incident. They emphasized that the father and his family were good people who never caused any trouble in the neighborhood.


 

“The incident was sudden and tragic, and the entire area was surprised by the matter. The father was good, peaceful, a businessman and contractor, and he had a modern car,” one neighbor said.

“He was known for his good manners; he was very calm and polite. We never heard any loud noises from this family in the street, and we never heard of them causing trouble. They never harmed anyone, and no one ever came to them demanding money, debts, or anything of the sort,” he added.

The first neighbor explained how he knew about the incident saying “I was leaving the house when I heard the sound of gunfire from inside the house, not from outside. I immediately returned to the sound, and everyone knew what had happened.”

“Those who were killed were his mother, his wife, his three children, in addition to his daughter and her son. Almost the entire family, around 12 people. He did not suffer from any mental problems; he was a normal person who went to work every day and greeted us when we saw him every day. His health was very normal.”

Another neighbor elaborated on how exemplary Abbas, the father, was, noting that neither he nor his family ever caused any disturbances.

 

“Abbas had no problems, and his family were humble to an indescribable extent. Abbas himself is a very good man. We have been neighbors for about five years, and we have not seen any wrongdoing from them. They are a respectable, polite, and kind family,” he said.

“We were sitting having dinner when someone knocked on our door and told us that Abbas's family had been killed. We lost them in a big loss, and I couldn't even look at them. They were like my own family,” he added.

The Iraqi government started an initiative in 2023 to centralize weapons in the hand of the state, to regulate gun ownership in society, especially as the arms trade has become widespread in Iraqi cities, particularly with the law allowing citizens to possess one firearm in their homes.

This initiative led by the Ministry of Interior Abdul Amir al-Shammari, aims to regulate and buy citizens' weapons, tackling a crucial issue that threatens national security and societal welfare.

The Ministry of Interior in Iraq has announced the establishment of 697 centers across provinces for purchasing weapons from citizens.

The Ministry has allocated one billion dinars for each province, and Baghdad with two billion dinars.

This effort is part of a four-year government program to regulate state-owned weapons, with awareness campaigns contributing to citizen participation.

The Ministry will take legal action against unregistered weapons once deadlines expire. All achievements in combating crime and regulating weapons are supported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, demonstrating the government's commitment to providing necessary resources to the Ministry of Interior.

It is noteworthy that the security situation in Iraq has witnessed an increase in criminal murder incidents since the beginning of the current year, 2024.

The number of murder incidents in January reached  at least 46 cases, while in February it amounted to at least 44 cases, according to data published by Iraqi media outlets.

These numbers compared with only 34 murder cases in November 2023 and 28 murder cases in December 2023.