PKK-affiliated individual perpetrated Erbil's Sept. 1 ‘terrorist act’, says KRSC

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated group perpetrated the September 1 explosion, a “terrorist act”, in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil, the Region’s Security Council said in a statement on Sunday.

The bomb exploded on a pedestrian bridge in Erbil on the 60-Meter Road on September 1, causing no casualties but resulting in material damage to the structure.

The incident was a “terrorist act” committed by Zalil Jalil Khalaf, a member of Tavgari Azadi, a PKK-linked group, according to the Council’s minister.

The improvised bomb, containing Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) – a highly explosive material – weighed 1kg, per the press release.

The perpetrator is from Sulaimani province’s Chamchamal district, to where he had returned following the act, according to the release.

An arrest warrant has been issued to the perpetrator who is still at large.

The Council shared a video of the perpetrator as he had laid the explosive material on the bridge. It later shows the explosion moment.

The Kurdistan Region’s officials have previously announced that the PKK, a Kurdish militant group that has fought Turkey since the mid-1980s, had planted roadside bombs in the border areas with the Kurdish region against the Peshmerga forces.

Turkey has launched several military operations against the group inside the Kurdistan Region, where its suspected members are often targeted by Ankara’s drone strikes.