PKK attack 'an act of aggression against us and Kurds’: Father of fallen Peshmerga

After a member of the Oil and Gas Police in Duhok province who was wounded in an attack on Wednesday by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) died of his injuries the following day, his father called the incident “an act of aggression against us and Kurds.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – After a member of the Oil and Gas Police in Duhok province who was wounded in an attack on Wednesday by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) died of his injuries the following day, his father called the incident “an act of aggression against us and Kurds.”

Hersh Jawhar, who has also been a Peshmerga fighter for 18 years, leaves his wife and four children behind.

Read More: New PKK attack injures 2 policemen in Kurdistan Region's Duhok: Source

Jawhar's father told Kurdistan 24, “The last time he spoke to his mother, he said to her, ‘We are going to do a routine check of Peshmerga guard points on the outskirts of Chamanke district.’”

In a message to the PKK, the grieving father who gave his name only as Jawhar said, “Stop killing the sons and fathers of the people and stop becoming another obstacle in front of Kurds and Kurdistan.”

“Since the PKK has occupied our villages and lands, those living around those areas have been living in constant fear and anxiety as Turkish warplanes constantly fly over the areas, resulting in clashes that the people pay the price with their lives and property,” he explained, adding, “They occupied the best of our territories in the Kurdistan Region and call them their own. And yet, they plant explosive devices against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces there, telling us – the rightful owners – not to trespass.”

The incident that killed his son came following another that morning in which PKK fighters are accused of attacking a convoy of Peshmerga forces in the same area just after a roadside bomb had detonated nearby in a skirmish that left one Peshmerga dead and two injured.

Read More: PKK attack on Peshmerga ‘violation of Kurdistan Region’: KRG

Jawhar said, “The PKK knew in advance their regular route and planted two improvised explosive devices (IED) on the road. We found out that they had set up a trap on the road further ahead in case the IED did not do the job.” 

The Iraqi government has condemned the act, calling it an “attack on Iraq’s sovereignty.” 

Read More: Iraq ‘condemns’ PKK attack on Peshmerga, vows to take measures: statement

The PKK, headquartered in the Zagros Mountains within the Kurdistan Region, has been fighting a decades-long conflict against Ankara over Kurdish rights in Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. Rural residents and the local environment continue to suffer from ongoing clashes, including multiple civilian fatalities and other casualties. 

Although the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly asked the PKK and the Turkish government to take their fight elsewhere, tensions between the KRG and the PKK have reached new levels recently, to the point of actual armed conflict. 

Editing by John J. Catherine