Two KFC outlets attacked in Baghdad over Gaza war, police sources say

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants were attacked in Baghdad in the past 48 hours, causing damage but no one was injured. Iraqi security forces arrested several suspects, Interior Ministry and police sources said on Monday.

Initial investigations have revealed that the restaurants were targeted because they allegedly supported US brands for Israel in light of the war in the Gaza Strip, police said.

The first attack occurred early Sunday when two men on a motorcycle threw an improvised bomb at a branch of the American chicken restaurant chain on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, causing only minor damage, police sources said.

On Monday, another KFC branch in Baghdad and a second American restaurant were attacked by a group of masked men who broke into the restaurants and used sticks to smash glass and destroy furniture.

They fled before the security forces arrived, police said.

KFC did not immediately comment on the attacks.

The Interior Ministry did not comment further on the motives behind the attacks and said that a police commander and other officials responsible for the areas where the attacks took place had been arrested and faced punitive measures.

Since the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protest in a largely spontaneous, grassroots campaign against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The measures reflect growing outrage over the Israeli military operation that has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza and triggered a humanitarian crisis, according to local health authorities.