Three Defense Ministry personnel killed in Baghdad-Kirkuk highway crash

BAGHDAD — Three Iraqi Defense Ministry personnel were killed and five others injured in a traffic crash Friday on the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway near Maftoul village, the ministry said.

The five injured service members are receiving hospital treatment. The ministry expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and did not disclose the circumstances of the crash or details of the vehicles involved.

Iraq recorded 2,103 fatal crashes killing 2,719 people in 2024, a 10 percent decline from 3,019 deaths the previous year, according to Ministry of Planning figures covering governorates outside the Kurdistan Region. Men accounted for 82 percent of fatalities. Authorities cite speeding, poor infrastructure, distracted driving and weak enforcement as the main causes of deadly accidents.