Exclusive: Turkey airplanes strike Qandil 26 times

Erbil, Kurdistan Region (K24)—Turkish warplanes bombarded several villages in Qandil outskirts in Kurdistan Region amid twenty-six strikes in the early hours of Tuesday.

A K24 reporter in Soran District said, “Zargali, Kuzine, Lewje and Indzeyan villages in Qandil were severely targeted by Turkish air jets during a three hours operation at midnight."

There have been no reports of causalities among the villagers, but their farms and gardens have been destroyed.

As for the casualties among Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters, no information has been published so far.

The strategic situation of Qandil Region, as a main trading route between the border gate of Iran, Haji Omeran and Sulemanieh province has made Turkey choose midnight for attacking the area.

Some 61 villages, located between the towns of Choman and Rawanduz in Erbil governorate are attacked by Turkish warplanes once in a while under the pretext of aiming PKK fighters.

Since June, Ankara has been taking Kurdish cities under siege and curfew to achieve its goal of completely destroying the PKK forces. Many civilians have lost their lives to this war.

In August 2015, Turkish air crafts bombarded Zargali village in Qandil outskirts, leaving nine civilians dead, five of whom members of the same family. Other eighteen people were injured and the village was devastated to a large extent.

Families of the victims have tried to send the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ask for compensation for the fatalities and the damage to their properties, but their efforts has not come to any results yet.

Recently, Baghdad top officials warned Turkey, calling its deployment on the Iraqi soil a violation of Iraq sovereignty and specified a deadline for their withdrawal which Turkey ignored.

The Iraqi officials, however, have not shown any reaction to the Turkish air strikes on Qandil in Kurdistan Region which they consider a part of Iraqi soil.