Forest patrol ambushed in Garmiyan, officer wounded during anti-logging operation

GARMIYAN — A forest and environment police officer was wounded early Monday when a patrol unit was ambushed by unidentified gunmen near the village of Sanger, in Sulaymaniyah’s Garmiyan Autonomous Administration, according to local authorities.

The Garmiyan Forest and Environment Police said the incident occurred at around 4:30 a.m. as a Khanaqin division patrol attempted to intervene in illegal logging activity. “While on duty to stop a number of woodcutters, the patrol was fired upon by several armed individuals,” the force said in a statement.

One officer, Baqi Abubakr, was injured in the shooting. The assailants fled, abandoning a white Nissan Patrol, which has since been seized by police.

Local officials said legal procedures were underway to identify and apprehend those responsible, but no arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.

Illegal logging remains a persistent issue in the Kurdistan Region, where enforcement efforts have intensified in recent months. On Feb. 27, officials said more than 50 people had been arrested in Sulaymaniyah for cutting trees since the start of the year, and others remain wanted.

The practice is widely viewed as a major driver of deforestation, with offenders frequently producing charcoal and firewood in violation of environmental laws. The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Board of Environmental Protection and Improvement has set penalties at 500,000 Iraqi dinars (approximately $330), with up to three months in prison for nonpayment.