Murder-suicide in Said Sadiq’s village of Greza leaves six dead

SULAYMANIYAH — A murder-suicide in Greza village, Said Sadiq district, has left six family members dead, including the perpetrator. A son killed his parents, two sisters and a brother before taking his own life.

Sulaymaniyah police said the suspect, identified as Bashir Salar Mohammed, born in 1998, used a Kalashnikov rifle to carry out the attack inside the family home. “According to preliminary investigations, the cause of the incident was a family dispute,” police said.

Authorities were alerted to the shooting at 11:10 p.m. and arrived at the scene shortly after. “Crime scene investigators collected all available evidence and seized the firearm used in the crime,” police stated.

The victims were first taken to Shahid Shawkat Hospital in Said Sadiq before being transferred to forensic medicine in Sulaymaniyah. This morning, all six were buried together in Greza village.

Freshly dug graves of six family members in Greza village, Said Sadiq district, Kurdistan Region, after a son killed his parents, two sisters, and a brother before taking his own life. Photo by: 964Media

Three siblings survived the attack because they were not at home at the time. One brother had left shortly before the shooting to pick up a guest with his car, another was in Erbil, and a sister had recently married and was living in her new home.

In interviews with 964media, relatives and the village preacher said that Bashir Salar Mohammed was not in a stable mental state.

According to sources, Bashir had been living in Manchester, UK, and returned three days ago to visit his father, who had recently undergone heart surgery. Police have not disclosed how he obtained the firearm, but the house and surrounding streets were monitored by multiple security cameras, which authorities have now reviewed.

Greza village is located approximately four kilometers north of Said Sadiq in the Sulaymaniyah governorate.

During the funeral, Osman Grezaiy, the local mosque preacher, urged action against unregulated gun ownership. “What happened was the result of unregulated firearm possession,” he told 964media during the funeral.

He called on citizens to surrender unauthorized weapons. “Everyone must respond to the government’s call and hand over illegal firearms,” he said.

The cleric also warned that widespread gun possession has become a major issue. “Gun ownership without regulation has become a societal problem,” he said.

Osman Grezaiy, the preacher of Greza village, speaks during the funeral of six family members killed in a mass shooting.