Shafaq News/ Two members of an armed group were killed and one injured in a failed attempt to raid a housing project northwest of Baghdad on Friday, a security source revealed.
According to the source, a group of approximately 25 armed individuals in three Kia pickup trucks attempted to break into the headquarters of the 'Rar' security company, tasked with protecting the under-construction Asad Babel residential complex in the Abu Ghraib, northwest of Baghdad.
"One of the company's guards opened fire on the attackers, resulting in the death of two and the injury of another," the source explained. "The remaining assailants fled the scene in their vehicles to an unknown location."
The source stated that the body of the deceased and the injured individual were transported to Abu Ghraib Hospital. The injured assailant remains under the custody of Akarkof Center patrols. No weapons were seized from the assailants.
The motive behind the raid remains unclear, and Iraqi authorities have yet to comment on the incident.
Iraq is home to one of the fastest-growing arms market in the world, a concerning share of which is falling into the hands of organized crime groups, driven by conflict as well as fuelling it. Meanwhile, ongoing regional instability and governments failure to address people's security needs are driving civilians to the illicit arms market for self-protection.
The results of the 2021 Global Organized Crime Index show that Western Asia is the region with the world's most pervasive arms market, with an average score of 7.25 out of 10, compared to the global average of 4.92.
Longstanding conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, among others, have spurred an influx of small arms and heavy weaponry to these countries while neighbouring states become increasingly weaponized.
In Jordan, for example, civilian gun ownership has become commonplace and arms are widely sold in bazaars for anyone who can afford them. Over 90 per cent of the weapons used in violent crimes in the country are found to have been purchased illegally.
Western Asia's appetite for arms is both a cause and effect of conflicts that continue to rage on. The countries with the highest arms trafficking scores under the Index are all involved in conflict in one way or another. Iraq -along with Syria, Yemen and Turkey- scored 9 out of 10 on this indicator, only outranked by Libya (9.5), which serves as a primary source country for arms flowing into the region.
Other factors that have driven demand include the long-standing tensions between Israel and Arab states, the Kurdish quest for independence, and the still-unfolding consequences of political Islamism in Iraq, Syria, and neighbouring states.
Alongside direct supplies from foreign governments, weapons also derive from past conflicts in the region and beyond. Leftover arsenals from the 1980s Iran–Iraq war are still circulating in both countries today, while Soviet-era weapons used in the 1990s Yugoslav wars have fallen into rebel hands amid Syria’s decade-long civil war.
In Iraq where the authorities have failed to reduce robbery and clan disputes over the past years, so-called "house guns"are becoming increasingly popular. According to the Small Arms Survey, nearly 20 per cent of Iraq’s population owned a gun in 2021; in Lebanon the figure is 32 per cent. Not only is the weaponization of civil society a bleak indicator of the growing mistrust towards the government, it also increases opportunities for arms to (re-)enter the black market, particularly when further social unrest inevitably erupts.
Iraq, however, did not become on of the world's largest illicit arms depot overnight. The state-driven flooding of arms, lack of oversight mechanisms, limited law enforcement capabilities, and the lack of international cooperation are all factors that have contributed to the country's most destabilizing actors exploiting the proliferation of arms. This has perpetuated the vicious cycle of conflict that has plagued not only Iraq, but the entire Middle East, for decades.