VIDEO: Turkish artillery intensively bombards Bradost area in Erbil province
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish artilleries began shelling alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets late Monday in the Kurdistan Region’s Bradost area in northern Erbil province, near the border with Turkey, causing environmental damages, sources told Kurdistan 24.
In response to a PKK shooting of a Turkish military outpost in the area, Turkish planes began shelling the countryside of Merga Rash village in Erbil’s Bradost area, Ihsan Chalabi, the mayor of Sidakan town, told Kurdistan 24.
The attack did not result in any causalities, a source told Kurdistan 24, but it set fires to the forests and lands of villagers. “Due to the danger of the area [being targeted by warring parties], no one can go and extinguish the fire,” the source added.
The continuing Turkey-PKK clashes in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region have caused civilian casualties as well as material damage to the areas where confrontations happen.
In his latest visit to the Kurdistan Region, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed his “sympathy” for the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, suggesting both have become “victims” of “regional tensions and crises” and “pay the price on a daily basis.”
Authorities in the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly complained that hundreds of residents of the border villages are displaced, as a result of military operations launched by Turkey and Iran, which often result in civilian casualties and property damage.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has condemned the attacks and demanded that both Turkey and PKK withdraw from the autonomous region and take their fight elsewhere.
Read More: KRG condemns Turkish killing of Kurdish civilians, calls on PKK to vacate border areas
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany