Turkey airstrike kills civilian in Kurdistan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish airstrikes on Monday killed a civilian in the Kurdistan Region, as an air campaign against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continued in the aftermath of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit the region.

A Kurdistan 24 reporter in the Soran district, northwest of Erbil governorate, said Turkish warplanes bombed Sidekan, Mergarash, Barmiza, Chinaroke, Galiye resh, Kareshk, Kiware, and Khwakurk areas near the border throughout the day and night.

One of the airstrikes hit victim Indad Ari Bradosti’s vehicle as he was driving on a rural road in Galiye resh, instantly killing him.

Bradosti was 36 and married, said the reporter.

A Tuesday fact sheet regarding the latest clashes and bombardments on the website of the PKK’s People’s Defense Forces (HPG) confirmed the killing of Bradosti.

There was no information regarding the fighters’ casualties.

Ankara has stepped up its air campaign after the Kurdish group fighting the Turkish state for self-rule killed eight government forces earlier this month.

Since then, Turkey has widened the geographic scope of airstrikes, bombing targets as southward as Asos Mountain in Sulaimani Province.

Turkey has been staging an air campaign on PKK targets since mid-2015 when a two-year-held peace talks and ceasefire between both sides dramatically collapsed.

In the past two years, similar airstrikes have displaced hundreds of people from scores of villages.

Two airstrikes in late September killed seven civilians in the Sheladize district of Dohuk Province.

An attack in August 2015 killed eight civilians, including a pregnant woman, in the Zargeli village of Erbil where Turkey claimed there was a PKK camp.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany