Three people wounded, six villages evacuated due to Turkish bombardment in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish airstrikes and artillery shelling on the border areas of the Kurdistan Region have been ongoing for several days resulting in the displacement of villagers and injuries to civilians.

A Kurdistan 24 correspondent on Thursday said that due to the Turkish attacks in the villages of the Sidakan district in Erbil Province, residents had been forced to evacuate their homes.

The correspondent added that three civilians were wounded due to the airstrikes and rushed to the nearby hospital in Sidakan.

Additionally, people in the villages of Khalifan, Lelkan, Karakan, Gorashan, Shapan, and Siran—which came under Turkish bombardment—have been forced to leave their homes.

Speaking to local media, Ehsan Chalabi, the mayor of Sidakan district, confirmed that Turkish airstrikes and artillery shelling were carried out at 6:30 p.m. local time.

He added that the villages which came under attack inhabit over 90 families who were all forced to flee their homes to other safe areas.

Turkey has intensified its campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters stationed in the Qandil mountains of the Kurdistan Region over the past few weeks.

Turkish warplanes have bombed as far as 20 kilometers within the region in some areas, primarily in Sidakan and Mergasor, located on the triangle border of the Kurdistan Region, Turkey, and Iran.

Sidakan is located on the border of the Kurdistan Region’s province of Erbil and the two neighboring countries. It contains some 115 villages, many of which have been evacuated due to the ongoing airstrikes.

Both the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq have condemned the Turkish bombing in the past weeks, especially those that killed four civilians camping in the mountains of the Choman district as part of their celebration of Newroz, the Kurdish New Year.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany