SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq (BNO NEWS) -- An American teacher who worked at a Christian school in northern Iraq was shot dead by a teacher on Thursday, according to media reports on Friday. The student then killed himself.

Jeremiah Small, of Cosmopolis, Grays Harbor County, located in the state of Washington, was killed by a student at the English-speaking Medes School, located in Sulaymaniyah, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, the Seattle Times reported.

The shooter was identified as 18-year-old Biyar Sardar al Talabani who killed Small before shooting himself. The student later succumbed to the gunshot injury at a local hospital.

The motive behind the killing remains unclear, as Iraq's Kurdish Region, which is located northeast of Baghdad, the country's capital, has been a relatively peaceful region with little terrorist activity compared to other areas.

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