Al-Marsad newspaper – France Press: An Iraqi man, his mother and three of his brothers were shot dead, at dawn on Tuesday, in the south of the country, according to the Iraqi police. The perpetrator claimed that he committed the crime after reading a novel by the late Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz.
Iraqi media quoted Riyad Al-Aqili, director of the media office of the governor of Wasit, as saying that the 18-year-old killed his family members in their home in the Al-Naft neighborhood, the center of the city of Kut in the province.
Al-Aqili added that the dead were the young man’s mother, a brother and two sisters.
He pointed out that the killer, who is an orphan, claimed during his interrogation by the security services that arrested him, that he had committed this act, influenced by a novel by Naguib Mahfouz, according to what was reported by the Iraqi media. The Iraqi official did not clarify the name of the novel to which the young man was referring.
Earlier, a security official said, preferring not to reveal his identity, that “the young man is called Ali Habib, born in 1999, and under the influence of drugs he killed four members of his family: his mother, brother and two sisters.” He explained that the crime occurred after “Monday midnight, with a gun, in the south of the city of Kut, the capital of Wasit province, which borders Iran.”
The police have arrested the offender who was arrested and released in the past on charges of drug abuse, according to the source. The cause of the crime was not disclosed, except that the perpetrator was under the influence of drugs.
The security forces have intensified their operations and are now announcing the seizure of narcotics or the arrest of drug traffickers, on an almost daily basis.
.