Politics

Turkish drone attack results in civilian casualties in Shingal

On Tuesday evening, a Turkish drone attack targeted a vehicle in a village belonging to the disputed Sinjar (Shingal), resulting in the deaths of two civilians, according to Iraq’s top security source.

Halgurd Sherwani 2020/08/26 08:10

kurdistan Turkey PKK Kurdistan Region Iraq Casualties

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Tuesday evening, a Turkish drone attack targeted a vehicle in a village belonging to the disputed Sinjar (Shingal), resulting in the deaths of two civilians, according to Iraq’s top security source.

A Turkish drone targeted a pickup truck in Bahrava village, belonging to Khanasor town in Shingal area, Iraq’s Security Media cell noted.

The source added that the attack resulted in two civilian casualties, as the truck’s driver could manage to escape.

The PKK-backed Shingal Protection Units (YBS) in a statement following the attack noted that Turkish drones had attacked the area, saying they would share details in a statement later, according to Roj News, a PKK-affiliated media.

The airstrike is the second of its kind conducted in Yezidi areas in Shingal following the launch of Turkey’s air-and-ground operations in mid-June targeting alleged sites of its decades-long rival, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, in Kurdistan Region and disputed territories between the regional and federal governments.

Soon following the airstrikes in mid-June in Shingal, several international Yezidi aid organizations criticized the airstrikes, fearing it could hamper the minority group’s return.

The PKK found a foothold in Shingal after coming down from its mountain bases on the Iraq-Iran border to back the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces and Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to open a safety corridor for the Yezidis following the so-called Islamic State’s gruesome attacks on the Yezidi areas.

Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region against alleged PKK positions. Due to the ongoing clashes between the PKK and the Turkish military, hundreds of villages along the Turkish-Kurdistan border have been evacuated.

Over the past few years, the KRG has repeatedly called on the PKK to stop using the region as a launchpad for its attacks against Turkish government forces.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany