PKK rocket attack in Duhok kills 5 Peshmerga, injures 4

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Five of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga fighters were killed and four others were wounded in an attack claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the vicinity of Duhok province.

Peshmerga forces were ambushed on Saturday by PKK militants near the village of Bari-Sili, located on the administrative border of Amedi district, an official in the Peshmerga Ministry told Kurdistan 24.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Peshmerga Sarbast Lazgin said the Peshmerga were attacked by PKK rocket fire while headed to mount Mateen around dawn. The forces were meant to be establishing a new military point to maintain security in local villages.

Five Peshmerga were killed and four others injured, he said, adding that the PKK have carried out similar attacks on Peshmerga.

He echoed the Kurdistan Region’s officials who regularly call on the PKK and its archenemy Turkey to take their conflict away from the autonomous region.

PKK-linked media was quick to publish the details of the attack and acknowledged the attack on the Peshmerga forces.

The Director-General of Health in Duhok, Afrasiab Musa, told Kurdistan 24 that the injured Peshmerga were taken to a local emergency hospital for treatment.

The KRG has stated several times that the PKK attacks crossed serious “red lines,” although it rejected the group’s attempts to draw it into internal fighting.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly