Iraqi influencer Om Fahad shot dead by motorbike assassin
Anthony FranceSat, 27 April 2024 at 11:00 am GMT-7·2-min read
Om Fahad whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi (Supplied)
Iraqi social media influencer Om Fahad has been shot dead in her car by a motorbike assassin, according to local media reports.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed in Baghdad’s eastern Zayne neighbourhood on Friday.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source told the AFP news agency.
Her assistant Nour al Suwaidi was injured in the shooting, said journalists from the US-owned Al Hurra.
CCTV showed the gunman on a motorbike riding past the stationary car and then parking behind a nearby wall.
The suspect then got off his motorbike. Still wearing his crash helmet, he walked several metres up to Ms Fahad’s vehicle before opening fire with a pistol.
He then ran back to the bike and sped off.
Horrific images showed Ms Fahad’s body slumped in her seat and there were at least three bullet holes in a car window.
An investigation has been launched by the authorities into the circumstances of the killing as they try to trace the gunman.
Blood covers the street at scene of shooting in Baghdad, Iraq (AP)
Ms Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, shared videos of herself dancing to pop music in form-hugging clothes.
She was sentenced to six months in prison last year for sharing videos that the court ruled undermined “modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to monitor social media sites for content it deemed offensive and punish those responsible.
More recently, a feud between Ms Fahad and fellow influencer Dalia Naeem has escalated.
Naeem - who is known as “Iraqi Barbie” due to her many plastic surgery procedures - had been threatening to expose Ms Fahad’s alleged relationship with senior Iraqi officials, media reports say.
