News / Iraq

Six women dead as blaze sweeps through recovery center in Iraqi capital

Friday, 04 January 2019 5:33 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 04 January 2019 5:37 PM ]

This picture shows the aftermath of a blaze at a recovery home for women in al-Adhamiyah neighborhood, northwestern Baghdad, Iraq, on January 4, 2019. (Photo by Arabic-language Baghdad Today news agency)

Authorities in Iraq say at least six people have lost their lives when a massive fire swept through a recovery center for women and children in the capital Baghdad.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Iraq’s Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network that the fire broke out after a riot started at the center in Baghdad’s northwestern neighborhood of al-Adhamiyah on Friday morning.

The source added that the recovery center was run under the aegis of the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. It housed children on the first floor and women on the second.

On May 26, 2018, officials in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said seven inmates had died of asphyxia in a fire started as part of a prison riot.

They said in a statement that another 12 inmates were being treated for smoke inhalation.

The riot began when a convict sentenced to death on terrorism-related charges assaulted one of the prison guards.

This picture shows the aftermath of a blaze at a recovery home for women in al-Adhamiyah neighborhood, northwestern Baghdad, Iraq, on January 4, 2019. (Photo by Arabic-language Baghdad Today news agency)

He and other inmates then tried to control the facility, but were unsuccessful.

Prisons in Iraq have been bursting at the seams following the detention of thousands of Takfiri militants.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.

On July 10 that year, he had formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

In the run-up to Mosul's liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk