Overnight Turkish raids on suspected PKK targets cut power to rural villages in Kurdistan Region
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Overnight Turkish raids felled power transmission lines in rural parts of the Kurdistan Region near the border with Turkey, local sources said on Saturday.
Ankara's operation was targeting suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) near the Qandil Mountains, where the armed group is headquartered. Nearby villages lost electricity due to the Turkish strikes.
The attack terrorized rural populations and caused severe damage to the area's infrastructure, locals told Kurdistan 24. The Ministry of Electricity in the Kurdistan Region reported an interruption to the supply of electricity in the area.
The ongoing clashes recently caused 17 additional villages to fully evacuate, authorities in Duhok announced on Saturday. In total, at least 200 rural communities have fled the region due to the Turkey-PKK fighting.
The PKK has been locked in a decades-long conflict against Ankara over Kurdish rights in Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. The group is headquartered in the Kurdistan Region's Qandil Mountains, mostly in rural areas along the Turkish and Iranian borders like Qaladze.
The clashes have escalated in recent weeks, as have hostilities between the PKK and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
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Officials from both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly called on Turkey and the PKK to take their fight away from areas populated by civilians, thousands of whom have been displaced, suffered damage to their farms, livestock, or other property. Others have suffered serious injury or even death as a result of skirmishes or Turkish bombardment of suspected PKK positions.
The conflict has escalated in recent weeks, as have hostilities between the PKK and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).