Turkish airstrike wounds two shepherds in Duhok province

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Two shepherds from a village in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province were wounded overnight Tuesday as Turkish airstrikes targeted alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a local official told Kurdistan 24.

Hassan Mohsin, 20, and his 16-year-old brother, Ali Mohsin were hit by an airstrike as they slept in Behere village in the province’s Zakho district, Adeeb Jafar, the mayor of nearby Darkar, said Wednesday.

The 20-year-old shepherd was “critically injured” and transferred to Duhok hospital, Jafar said. His brother’s condition is stable.

“Due to the Turkey and PKK clashes, our villages are bombarded on daily basis and roads to nearly 20 Christian and Muslim villages have been closed because of the ongoing clashes,” Jafar said.

Another young man from Kani Masi village was wounded on Tuesday morning in another airstrike.

Last month Turkey renewed military operations, dubbed Thunderbolt and Claw-Lightning, targeting alleged positions belonging to its decades-old enemy PKK in the Kurdistan Region’s border areas.

More than 300 villages have been evacuated in the border areas as the result of the ongoing clashes. The Kurdistan Region’s authorities regularly call on the warring forces to take their fight away from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. 

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly