Turkish warplanes shell Mount Qandil once more in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) - Turkish fighter jets severely bombarded several villages surrounding Qandil Mountain, aiming at the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases on Tuesday night. No causalities have been reported so far.

According to K24 correspondent in Soran District, Tayfur Mohammed, journalists in the region are waiting for PKK forces permission to enter the area and gather information on Tuesday night’s bombardment.

Mohammed said that Turkish warplanes shelled several villages in Qandil Mountain including Bokriska, Lewje, Indze, Bole and Zargeli on Tuesday night.

These attacks on the Kurdistan Region's soil have occurred amid the Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani’s visit to Turkey today to discuss regional situation, fighting against IS militants, and a peace process between PKK and the Turkish government.

The violation of Kurdistan Region’s airspace, as a part of Iraq territory, comes despite the fact that earlier this week Baghdad’s top officials warned Turkey about violating Iraq’s sovereignty and asked Turkey to withdraw its ground troops.

Turkish officials claim that they hit Qandil as the headquarter to the central command of Kurdish PKK organization opposing the Turkish government. 

After the election renewed in Turkey Parliament, the clashes between the Turkish army and PKK armed guerrillas have intensified in the Kurdish-populated areas of Turkey and Kurdistan Region border.

(Tayfur Muhammad contributed to this report from Soran City)