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Three Electrocuted in Iraq Floods

Iraq is one of the hottest countries on earth but when heavy rains do hit they can result in casualties and widespread damage because of deteriorating public infrastructure | AFP
Iraq is one of the hottest countries on earth but when heavy rains do hit they can result in casualties and widespread damage because of deteriorating public infrastructure | AFP
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Three Electrocuted in Iraq Floods

Iraq is one of the hottest countries on earth but when heavy rains do hit they can result in casualties and widespread damage because of deteriorating public infrastructure | AFP
Iraq is one of the hottest countries on earth but when heavy rains do hit they can result in casualties and widespread damage because of deteriorating public infrastructure | AFP

At least three people have been electrocuted in central Iraq after torrential rain played havoc with the war-ravaged country's dilapidated power grid, a medical official said Thursday.

The three deaths happened in separate incidents in the central province of Babil, said Dr Ahmed Sabbah, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the provincial capital Hilla, AFP said.

The dead were aged 16, 22 and 30 and one of them was a woman, Sabbah told AFP.

They had all gone outside to switch off the main supply to their homes during Wednesday's storm, for fear that power fluctuations would damage their household electrical appliances.

The storm brought disruption to large parts of Iraq, not just Babil province, south of Baghdad.

Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani ordered civil servants to stay home nationwide on Thursday, except for key staff and security personnel.

In the northern Kurdistan region, the rains sent a river of mud pouring through the village of Khabat, with several shops suffering water damage, an AFP photographer reported.

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Erdogan: Kurdish Militia in Syria Will Be Buried If They Do Not Lay Down Arms

A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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Erdogan: Kurdish Militia in Syria Will Be Buried If They Do Not Lay Down Arms

A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish fighters in Syria will either lay down their weapons or "be buried", amid hostilities between Türkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.
Following Assad's departure, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG group must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria's future. The change in Syria's leadership has left the country's main Kurdish factions on the back foot.
"The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons," Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament.
"We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings," he added.
Türkiye views the Kurdish YPG group- the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the YPG.
Earlier, Türkiye's defense ministry said the armed forces had killed 21 YPG-PKK militants in northern Syria and Iraq.
In a Reuters interview last week, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle ISIS and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Türkiye, a core demand from Ankara.
He denied any organizational ties with the PKK.
Erdogan also said Türkiye would soon open its consulate in Aleppo, and added Ankara expected an increase in traffic at its borders in the summer of next year, as some of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts begin returning.