At least 20 injured and dozens of fuel tankers destroyed as flames rip through warehouse near northern Kurdish city.
Published On 18 Aug 2026
A large fire has torn through a fuel storage depot near the city of Sulaimaniyah in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, injuring several people and destroying dozens of tankers.
Footage of Monday’s fire, verified by Al Jazeera, shows flames and thick clouds of smoke rising over the northern Iraqi city.
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Hersh Saeed Saleem, the deputy director general of Sulaimaniyah, told the Rudaw Media Network that no one was killed, but some 20 people had been hurt, with all injuries described as minor.
Shafaq News, another local news outlet, separately reported two burn cases, one of which required hospital treatment.
The fire broke out just before midnight at a warehouse in the Tanjaro area, one of the province’s main fuel supply sites, according to Rudaw.
Emergency crews and security forces rushed to the scene as the blaze intensified, with several explosions reported as flames spread through the facility.
Shafaq News, citing a local source, reported that 34 petrol tankers and four gas-oil tankers were destroyed, with the fire consuming more than 3 million litres of fuel.
The Deputy Governor of Sulaimaniyah, Shaho Osman, said the fire has now been brought under control.
The cause of the fire remains unclear.
Civil defence teams from Sulaimaniyah were leading the firefighting effort, while their counterparts in the city of Erbil said they were on standby to help if called upon.
Authorities have yet to release a full damage assessment for the site.
Ramyar Rizgar, spokesperson for the Sulaimaniyah fuel market, and Sheikh Abdullah, owner of the warehouse, told Rudaw they do not expect the fire to push up petrol prices in the region.
