Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdistan Region, killing 4 and injuring 5

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish warplanes bombarded the Kurdistan Region's district of Qaladze on Thursday, killing four civilians and injuring five more. Three of those killed were from the same family. 

A Kurdistan 24 correspondent on the scene said, “The shelling targeted two cars in the Bard-Kuran village in the sub-district of Sangasar, killing a family of three individuals. A father and two children were killed, another individual in the second car, and five more were severely injured.”

“Initially the attack resulted in six injuries from the same family in the second car, however by the time they were rushed into hospital, one of the injured individuals died because of the severity of his wounds,” he added.

This marks a second attack two days on a raw as yesterday another attack by Turkish jets targeted a civilian car killing a man and heavily injuring his brother in the district of Soran. 

Such attacks have led to the evacuation of many villagers from the Kurdistan Region as Ankara’s warplanes continue to damage residential and agricultural lands, and, on occasion, kill civilian bystanders about whom there are no claims of PKK affiliation. Aggrieved locals have long urged both sides to take their conflict elsewhere.

The PKK has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against Turkey over Kurdish rights and self-rule. Turkey, the United States, and the European Union all designate it as a “terrorist” group.

In the past year, Turkey has carried out military operations against PKK fighters based within the Kurdistan Region with continued regularity. Turkish forces have crossed into the region up to 20 kilometers deep in some areas to target the guerilla group.

Editing by John J. Catherine