PKK abducts two youths in Kurdistan Region's Rawanduz: Local official
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A local official in the Kurdistan Region’s Rawanduz district told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday that two brothers had been kidnapped by fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) operating in the area.
According to the head administrator of Warte municipality, Muslih Zirar, PKK forces kidnapped the two individuals, both from the village of Bokriskan.
He explained that one of the brothers, named Qaraman Abdulla Sofy Meena, was abducted in their village on Monday and that the second brother, Twana Abdulla Sofy Meena, was taken on Tuesday in Pirde Shall village.
He continued, saying that members of their family had made contact with members of the armed group and inquired as to the whereabouts and condition of the brothers, as well as the reason they had been abducted, “but they have not been given any response.”
Zirar made a point to explain that the local government has no formal relationship with the group.
The PKK, headquartered in the Kurdistan Region's Zagros Mountains, has been fighting a decades-long conflict against Ankara over Kurdish rights in Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. Rural residents and the local environment continue to suffer from ongoing clashes, including multiple civilian fatalities and other casualties.
In the past decade, Turkey has regularly shelled areas inside the Kurdistan Region, but operations this year have intensified and widened in terms of scope and territory covered. In some areas, Turkish forces have mobilized as far as 30 kilometers deep inside the autonomous region’s border.
As civilians, agriculture, trade, and the local environment continue to suffer from the clashes, residents and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials have repeatedly asked the PKK and the Turkish government to take their fight elsewhere.
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Although the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly asked the PKK and the Turkish government to take their fight elsewhere, tensions between the KRG and the PKK have reached new levels recently, to the point of actual armed conflict.
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The attacks have led to widespread condemnation, including by the United States.
Editing by John J. Catherine