Three fires burn large areas in Sulaymaniyah, one sparked by rocket attack

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq — Three large fires broke out on Wednesday in the Arbat, Karadağ and Agılcar districts of Sulaymaniyah province, the provincial Forest and Environmental Police Directorate said. The first blaze started in the villages of Zergwez and Zergwezle in Arbat after a rocket strike and spread to Mount Suveyra and the Galazard range on the Karadağ district border, burning roughly 500 dunums of pastureland, grass and natural oak forest. Forest police, civil defense teams and local residents worked jointly to extinguish the fire, which was fully brought under control at 6 p.m., according to the directorate. Preliminary assessments in Karadağ showed about 150 dunums of natural forest and pastureland were damaged, with damage-assessment work still underway. In Agılcar, two separate fires erupted in the villages of Mayle and Kanihencire during harvest operations involving agricultural machinery. Fire crews extinguished the blazes, which scorched roughly 120 dunums of pasture, grassland and farmland, the directorate added.