Iraq security sweep: cross-border drug busts, executions, and fatal incidents

Shafaq News

Below is a summary of key security and crime-related incidents reported across Iraq on October 22, 2025.

- Cross-Border Drug Operation (Iraq–Syria)

Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced the seizure of 320 kilograms of narcotics in a joint operation with Syrian authorities. The ministry said an Iraqi anti-narcotics team coordinated directly with Syria’s drug enforcement administration to carry out the raid, which led to the arrest of several internationally wanted suspects tied to cross-border smuggling networks.

- Executions and Sentences (Baghdad / Saladin / Nineveh)

The Central Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced a defendant to death for killing five security personnel, including two officers, during a tribal dispute in eastern Baghdad. Twelve others were injured in the incident. The verdict was issued under the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005. In Saladin, a life sentence was handed down to a man convicted of drug trafficking after police found crystal meth, opium, heroin, and related tools in his possession. Separately, the al-Karkh Criminal Court sentenced an ISIS member to death for participating in armed operations in Nineveh in 2014 aimed at destabilizing the province.

- Gas Explosion (Baghdad)

A gas pipeline explosion inside a Police Energy Directorate facility northwest of Baghdad killed one officer and injured three others. The Interior Ministry said the blast occurred during maintenance work on a valve in Agargouf due to a technical fault. The fire also destroyed several military and civilian vehicles before civil defense teams contained it.

- Armed Attack (al-Anbar Desert)

Two shepherds from Najaf were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire along the al-Nukhayb–Karbala road in the western Anbar desert. Security forces recovered the victims’ bodies and launched an investigation.

- Domestic Violence and Murders (Kirkuk / Diyala / Wasit)

In Kirkuk, a woman died after being shot by her husband, who later committed suicide. Also in Kirkuk, a gas leak inside a house injured a 29-year-old woman and her infant daughter; both are in stable condition. In Diyala, a divorced woman was found dead in her home in al-Azim with a gunshot wound to the head. Preliminary findings suggest suicide linked to family issues. In Wasit, a young man was stabbed to death by unknown attackers in al-Jihad neighborhood. Security forces opened an investigation into the motive.

- Disciplinary Action and Crimes (Baghdad / Kirkuk / Basra)

Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari ordered the dismissal of a police officer convicted of a moral-turpitude crime, stressing that reinstatement under general amnesty laws violates ethical standards. In Kirkuk, police arrested two men accused of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy after luring him into a secluded area. In Basra’s Safwan district, a two-year-old child died after being run over outside his home.

- Explosion (Diyala)

A man was killed and two others were injured when a grenade exploded in central Diyala. According to a security source, the man was tampering with the device when it detonated near the Baghdad–Kirkuk road.