Villagers flee homes as Turkish airstrikes injure 2 children, 3 adults in Kurdistan Region

Residents continue to evacuate border areas of the Kurdistan Region as five civilians, including two children, were injured in recent Turkish bombings of populated areas in attacks targeting fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The most recent attacks came at the base of the Qandil Mountains, where the group is headquartered.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Residents continue to evacuate border areas of the Kurdistan Region as five civilians, including two children, were injured in recent Turkish bombings of populated areas in attacks targeting fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The most recent attacks came at the base of the Qandil Mountains, where the group is headquartered.

Ankara’s latest bombardment began late Wednesday evening and continued sporadically until late Thursday, a local source told Kurdistan 24. Early reports indicated that two people were injured from the village of Zewka, located in Sulamiani province's district of Pishdar.

Aside from the human casualties, the airstrike caused significant material damage to the villagers’ homes, property, and crops.

Read more: Turkish shelling wounds two civilians in Kurdistan’s Sulaimani Province

As Turkish attacks continued on Thursday, the total number of known casualties rose to five, including two children, a local civilian told Kurdistan 24.

Zewka residents evacuated the village as a result, adding to a long list of areas in the Kurdistan Region where civilians have abandoned their homes due to the ongoing Turkish-PKK conflict.

Earlier this week, Turkey’s defense ministry announced it had “neutralized” up to 14 alleged PKK fighters, totaling over 400 members since May 27, when Ankara launched “Operation Claw” in the Kurdistan Region.

The PKK is engaged in a decades-long insurgency against Turkey over Kurdish rights and self-rule, in a conflict that has resulted in the death of over 40,000 people on both sides.

Ankara, along with Washington and NATO, designates the PKK as a terrorist organization. The group is thought to have fighters near hundreds of villages inside the Kurdistan Region, mainly in the mountainous areas near the Turkish and Iranian borders. 

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. 

Editing by John J. Catherine