Shafaq News – Erbil
Internal and external actors were behind the recent violence in Lajan village in Erbil province, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) announced on Thursday, vowing to prosecute all those involved.
In a statement, the council linked the unrest to a broader network of “coordinated sabotage plots,” including attempted attacks on the Khor Mor gas field, oil refineries, power plants, and planned bombings in Erbil and Duhok.
The KRSC said media outlets affiliated with political factions, opposition groups, and foreign entities had inflamed tensions to destabilize the Region, adding that “gunfire was deliberately used to provoke security forces into causing civilian casualties, aiming to blame the authorities and prompt armed group intervention.”
Security agencies, the council confirmed, uncovered the network, foiled additional attacks, and detained several individuals who allegedly received orders from actors inside and outside Iraq, including “militia groups.”
The KRSC also released a video confession from Nechirvan Issa Mir, who claimed he joined the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in 2021 through Jawhar Agha Herki and later led Branch 14 of the party.
According to the statement, Mir said that Herki sent him to Al-Sulaymaniyah in early 2025 to coordinate with Iran-aligned Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, and then to Mosul to connect with a figure known as Abu Firas, alleging that he was ordered to recruit 135 individuals for surveillance and protest training, with an initial group of 35 receiving firearms instruction.
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The detainee added that days before the Lajan unrest, Herki had asked him to “return the favor” and begin mobilizing protests in Erbil, in coordination with Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and the PUK. “On the first day of unrest, I distributed leaflets and encouraged protests,” Mir noted, saying that the following day, he joined the demonstration, gave media interviews, and witnessed the crowd grow.
By sunset, gunfire targeted a Kurdistan Democratic Party office, and several institutions and surveillance cameras were torched or destroyed, Mir stated, concluding that Herki urged him to flee after he was identified, but he was captured by Asayish forces while attempting to escape through Mosul, Tikrit, and Kirkuk toward Al-Sulaymaniyah.
Read more: Khor Mor attack: Inquiry reveals drone origins, identifies attackers