Twelve governorates recorded no tribal gunfire attacks in 100 days, ministry says

BAGHDAD — Twelve governorates recorded no tribal dakka during the government’s first 100 days, the Interior Ministry said, citing it as evidence of a sharp fall in a form of armed intimidation it now prosecutes as terrorism.

Governorates in the south and centre, and some in the north, recorded a zero rate, said spokesperson Miqdad Miri. Tribal dakka is an Iraqi term for armed intimidation in tribal or family disputes, usually gunmen firing at a house, business or neighbourhood to pressure another family or clan, and it can escalate into long feuds and revenge killings. The ministry said in December 2025 that dakka and armed tribal disputes are prosecuted under Article 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, with suspects sent to the courts rather than left to customary reconciliation.

Miri also reported kidnappings down 44% and killings down 13%, with 71% of recorded criminal cases solved in the period, and fires nationwide down 86% on the same period last year. Personnel were dismissed over corruption, criminal convictions and unauthorised absence. In the first quarter of the year, the ministry said shootings at homes had fallen 37%, armed clashes 14% and kidnappings 33%, with more than 54,000 weapons seized.

Deadly incidents have continued outside the 100-day window. In February two people were killed and three wounded when gunmen fired on homes in northern Basra over a tribal dispute, and days later police arrested two tribal sheikhs and 11 others after an armed clash in Basra’s Dair district.

The ministry has tied the campaign against tribal violence to its wider effort to restrict weapons to the state, register privately held firearms and prosecute armed attacks through the courts.