Rural Zakho bombarded by Turkish artillery for 13 hours: official

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey bombarded suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in rural parts of the Kurdistan Region’s Zakho Administration with artillery from Thursday night until early Friday morning, villagers and local officials told Kurdistan 24. 

Nearly 100 Turkish artillery shells landed in the Banke and Mneen villages of Zakho’s Batifa district in Duhok province over a 13 hour period, Jameel Haji Ghazi, Banke’s village chief, told Kurdistan 24 on Friday. 

The bombardments did not result in civilian causalities. They did, however, cause damage to the villages’ orchards and farmlands, according to Haji Ghazi. 

Similarly, Hirore village was bombarded by artillery during the same period, villagers told Kurdistan 24. 

Footage obtained by Kurdistan 24 shows a car damaged by the bombardments. 

Turkey repeatedly targets the alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region with artillery and airstrikes. 

Authorities in the Kurdistan Region regularly call on the warring sides to take their fight away from civilian areas in the autonomous region. 

Since 2015, almost 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which began in 1984, according to the latest figures from the International Crisis Group (ICG) released in early February. 

Additional reporting by Islam Yousif, Masud Warmeli