Diyala records second student suicide in less than day
Shafaq News- Diyala
Eastern Iraq’s Diyala province recorded a second suicide involving a young woman in less than 24 hours on Friday, a security source told Shafaq News.
A secondary school student, born in 2010, died after setting herself on fire with kerosene at her home in Al-Khalis district. Her family said she had been experiencing psychological and family problems, while authorities opened an investigation into the circumstances.
The case followed the death of another secondary school student, born in 2007, who was found hanged at her residence on Thursday evening, according to a separate security source. Investigators seized her phone, a personal notebook, and a note she had written as part of their inquiry.
The Interior Ministry documented 617 suicides across Iraq in the first half of 2026, warning in July that the phenomenon was becoming “an increasingly serious social challenge.” A 2025 report by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs estimated 55 to 70 cases per month, with the annual figure rising from about 1,100 in 2022 to 1,300 in 2023 and nearly 1,500 in 2024.
Read more: When life feels closed from all sides: Iraq’s rising suicide cases
