Drone, bearing Turkish flag, crashes in Sulaimani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) ­– Bearing the Turkish flag on its wings, an unmanned aerial vehicle found crashed on Monday in a mountainous area of Sulaimani province, Kurdistan 24 has learned.

The crashed UAV resembles a Turkish military drone, a Kurdistan 24 reporter at the site said, describing the aircraft as “giant,” and estimating the wings’ length to be over two meters.

The drone’s wreckage has been found near Daru Kotir village of the Sanga Sar subdistrict in the Raparin Administration, the reporter said, adding the incident took place at 12:30 p.m. local time.

Security forces and local residents rushed to the area, which has seen at least two similar incidents in the last month.

Turkey has previously conducted aerial strikes against the alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the area. The PKK and Ankara have been engaged in a bloody military conflict since the mid-1980s, resulting in the deaths of about 55,000 people.

Bolstered by its advanced drone industry, Turkey has ramped up its drone strikes in recent years, particularly in the urban centers of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, to target suspected PKK positions.

Similar strikes in the past have also been blamed on Turkey, which have resulted in casualties, including senior PKK militants.

Kurdistan Region officials regularly call on Baghdad, officially in charge of border security affairs, to prevent the insurgents and foreign militaries from engaging in hostilities within its territory. Officials have voiced concerns about increased militia forces presence in the area.

Much of the conflict has been fought in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region, which has endangered the civilian population.

Additional reporting by Kurdistan 24 Raparin reporter Aras Amin