Peshmerga forces diffuse explosives planted by PKK on road in Kurdistan Region's Duhok: Source

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces on Thursday defused 65 kilograms of explosives on an intercity road in Duhok province, according to a security source who spoke to Kurdistan 24.

“Ziravani forces of the Peshmerga thwarted an attempt to detonate a quantity of TNT planted by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on the main road between Amedi and Drealuk districts in the area between the Kawani complex and Sargali village,” he said.

The source claimed that the explosive material “was prepared to be detonated near a Peshmerga outpost and Asayish forces in that area,” adding that the engineering unit of the Zaravani's 1st Brigade had diffused and dismantled the device without incident.

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 KRG.

Editing by John J. Catherine