Mystery surrounds the assassination that claimed, yesterday (Friday), the life of Aqil Abdullah Al-Shami Al-Nasseri, a teacher at the Open Educational College in the city of Nasiriyah, the center of the southern governorate of Dhi Qar. And it appears in a video monitored by surveillance cameras on the street, two people riding a motorcycle shoot from a very close range, and shoot him dead in front of his house.
The security authorities, who cordoned off the crime scene after the accident, did not reveal further details, but promised to conduct the necessary investigation and announce the results later.
The Ministry of Education said, in a statement, that it had “received unfortunate news of the assassination of Dr. Aqil al-Nasseri, one of the teaching staff at the Open Educational College in Dhi Qar Governorate, while he was on his way to official working hours to perform a lecture for his students, on Friday.” She added, “The Minister of Education expresses his regret and condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased, and calls on the security authorities to reveal the circumstances and reasons for the accident, while stressing the protection of educational and teaching staff and educational competencies.”
In turn, university professor Abd al-Wahhab al-Hamdani and a colleague of the deceased, Aqil al-Nasseri, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the deceased was of good morals, and had no problems with any party, whether tribal or security.”
He added, “Everyone is shocked, and we do not know exactly why he was assassinated. I tried to find out some details from his family, and they do not know what exactly happened, and what are the motives of the criminal party that killed him.” Al-Hamdani stated that “the deceased was calm in nature, and was not inclined to engage in any activity other than the teaching activity.”
In view of the method of assassination, which was published on a videotape, on social media, some do not rule out that “parties specializing in assassination operations” are behind it, and the motorcycle has previously been used in similar assassinations, including the assassination of researcher and expert on armed groups Hisham al-Hashemi in front of his house in Baghdad in July 2020.
In another operation, Dhi Qar police sources revealed that a citizen’s house in the city of Nasiriyah was targeted, on Friday evening, by a hand grenade that damaged the front of the house and a vehicle parked in front of it.
The “Nasiriyah News Network” quoted the sources as saying, “A citizen’s house was targeted with a hand grenade on Friday evening, and the explosion damaged the front of the house and shattered glass without human damage.” She indicated that “experts from the Explosives Control Office in Dhi Qar removed samples from the scene of the accident to find out its nature and opened an investigation into the accident.”
Nasiriyah also witnessed, the day before yesterday, an attack by armed men in a civilian car on protesters who were demonstrating due to the deterioration of services in the city.
As a result of the accident, according to the sources, “one of the demonstrators was seriously injured, and he was transferred to Nasiriyah Hospital for treatment.” She added, “The security force charged with protecting the demonstrators immediately pursued the vehicle, arrested all of its members, and took legal measures against them.”
The head of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, inaugurated, on Friday, a memorial to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the “former crowd” authority (assassinated by America in 2020) at the Arraya intersection in the center of Nasiriyah.
It is noteworthy that the city of Nasiriyah is one of the largest strongholds of the protest movement in 2019, during which the protesters burned most of the headquarters of parties, factions, and the “mobilization committee” in Dhi Qar Governorate.
