Two KFC branches attacked in Baghdad – World

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi Interior Ministry and police said on Monday that two Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Baghdad were attacked in the past 48 hours.

The attacks damaged the restaurants, but no injuries were reported. Since the attacks, Iraqi security forces have arrested several suspects.

According to initial investigations, the restaurants were targeted because they allegedly supported “US-based” brands for Israel (during the war in Gaza), police said.

According to police sources, the first attack occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning. Two men on motorcycles threw an improvised bomb at a branch of the American chicken chain on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, causing “minor damage.”

On Monday, a KFC branch in Baghdad and a second “American-style restaurant” were attacked by a group of masked men. They broke into the restaurants and used sticks to “smash glass and destroy furniture.” The men fled the scene before security forces arrived, police sources say.

KFC did not immediately comment on the attacks. The Interior Ministry did not elaborate on the motives behind the attacks and said a police commander and other officials in charge of the areas where the attacks took place had been arrested and face punitive measures.

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.

Published in Dawn, May 28, 2024