Three-year-old girl found dead in Kirkuk youth center pool; father recounts loss

KIRKUK, Iraq — A three-year-old girl, Nai, was found dead in the water tank of a June Youth Center in southern Kirkuk on July 8, roughly two hours after she went missing while playing near her home in the nearby June neighborhood, her father, Saif Sabbar, said. Family members and residents had searched the area without success before the body was discovered at about 3:30 p.m. that Wednesday, according to the father's account. The girl was buried on Friday after forensic procedures at the morgue were completed, Sabbar said. He added that the family had moved to Kirkuk in 2008 from the district of Al-Qaim in Anbar province, and that the silence at their home since the incident has been filled with memories of the child. Security sources told local media that intelligence and counterterrorism directorates, along with crime-fighting units, examined surveillance footage and detained two suspects. The investigation is continuing and has been referred to a child justice center on the order of a criminal investigation judge, with the probe focused on two minors, according to the same sources. No further details were immediately available on the circumstances of the death.