Baghdad prison fire was ‘arson’: Iraqi official

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) – The Iraqi government said Saturday a fire that killed six in a women’s shelter in the capital Baghdad was “planned”.

Six women were killed in riots and a fire that erupted in the facility in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district on Friday.

"A preliminary investigation indicates that two girls set the fire and caused riots,” Undersecretary Faleh al-Amiri told a press conference in Baghdad.

He said the girls in the shelter had repeatedly asked to leave the facility before the riots erupted.

"The girls used their beds to shut the doors for preventing paramedics from entering the room to stop the flames," he said.

He said one survivor from the fire had admitted that the incident “was planned”.

The official’s assertions could not be independently verified.

The shelter, run by the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, houses homeless women and those with children born out of wedlock.