Iraqi authorities investigating killing of social media influencer Um Fahad
Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot in front of her home in central Baghdad.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot in front of her home in central Baghdad.
Ghufran Mahdi Sawadi, known as “Um Fahad,” was popular on the social media sites TikTok and Instagram, where she posted videos of herself dancing to music and was followed by tens of thousands of users.
The killing took place in Zayoona, the same neighborhood where a prominent Iraqi researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi was gunned down in 2020. Before the U.S. invasion of 2003, the neighborhood was home to military leaders and considered a prestigious area in Baghdad. In recent years, many militia leaders have taken up residence there.
Sawadi isn’t the first prominent social media figure to be gunned down in central Baghdad. Last year, Noor Alsaffar or “Noor BM,” a transgender person with a large social media following, was also fatally shot in the city.
Blood covers the ground at the scene of a shooting in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday.Ali Jabar / APA neighbor of Sawadi who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Adam or “father of Adam,” said he came out to the street after hearing two shots fired and saw “the car’s door open and she was lying on the steering wheel.”
Rating: 5