Shafaq News- Baghdad

A man, his wife, and their seven-year-old son suffered serious burns after the father set himself on fire inside their home in Baghdad's Al-Adhamiyah district on Thursday, a security source told Shafaq News.

The father reportedly poured kerosene over himself while suffering psychological distress.

The Civil Defense Directorate, meanwhile, said its teams had extinguished a fire at a home near the shrine of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Numan in Al-Adhamiyah.

The Directorate did not disclose the cause of the fire.

Iraq recorded 617 suicides nationwide in the first half of 2026, according to Interior Ministry figures. A 2025 report by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs put the monthly average at 55 to 70 cases. The annual total rose from about 1,100 in 2022 to 1,300 in 2023 and nearly 1,500 in 2024.

Read more: When life feels closed from all sides: Iraq’s rising suicide cases