Turkish warplanes strike Kurdistan Region's Mount Halgurd area
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish warplanes ostensibly targeting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bombarded a countryside area populated by civilians at the foot of Mount Halgurd in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil province on Thursday. Sources told Kurdistan 24 that residents witnessed at least four separate strikes.
The local area is known as Koona Kotor, located in the Balakayati area of Choman district, much closer to the Iranian border than that of Turkey. Despite the presence of civilians, including farmers, shepherds, villagers, and tourists, in the area, no casualties were initially reported.
Ankara has been fighting a decades-long conflict with the PKK over Kurdish rights in Turkey that has killed tens of thousands since it began in the 1980s.
Some sources told Kurdistan 24 that the airstrike targeted a vehicle belonging to the PKK, but officials have not yet confirmed this claim.
Shakawan Hussein, the top local official of the nearby town of Smilan, did confirm that the Turkish airstrikes took place in the area, but was unaware of any vehicle belonging to the PKK operating in the area.
The airstrike comes one day after local officials in the Kurdistan Region’s province of Duhok announced that, in addition to the displacement of civilians caused by recent Turkish military bombardment, large swaths of forestland have also burned in multiple rural mountainous areas.
“Turkish bombing of border areas in the northern part of the province has caused the burning of 25 to 30 percent of the forests in those areas, as well as the deaths of wild animals and other impacts on wildlife,” said Mohammed Tahir, director of the governorate’s Environment Directorate, in a statement.
Read More: Turkish airstrikes cause widespread forest fires, displacement in Kurdistan Region
Turkey has intensified its air and ground attacks into border areas within the Kurdistan Region since mid-June, causing significant property damage and multiple civilian casualties.
Read More: At least four civilians killed in a Turkish air raid: sources
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 John J. Catherine
Additional reporting conducted by Kurdistan 24 correspondent Tayfur Mohammad