Newborn boy found abandoned in Kirkuk mosque

KIRKUK — A newborn boy was found abandoned Saturday morning inside a mosque in the village of Ilanjaghi, located in the Shwan subdistrict near the administrative boundary of Kirkuk governorate, according to police and municipal officials.

A police source told 964media that security forces were alerted after the infant was discovered. “After local authorities were notified, they entered the mosque and found a healthy newborn boy who had been left behind,” the source said. “The child was first transferred to the Qara Nawah health center, then sent to the hospital in Taq Taq.”

The source confirmed the infant is in good condition and that an investigation has been launched to identify those responsible.

Azad Asy, head of the Khalkhalan municipality, said the child was discovered by Peshmerga soldiers stationed in the area. “Several Peshmerga, who were at the mosque for dawn prayers, found the baby and immediately alerted local police and health authorities,” Asy told 964media.

The case is the latest in a series of newborn abandonment incidents reported across Iraq in recent months.

In March, a baby girl was found between the Domiz and Kobani neighborhoods of Kirkuk and transferred to the city’s children’s hospital. That same month, another newborn was discovered near a water facility in the Ishaqi subdistrict of Salah al-Din and taken to Balad General Hospital. A month earlier, a four-day-old infant was found at a landfill in Qarahanjiri and admitted to the same hospital, where he remained under care pending a court decision.