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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s war with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) came very close to a major city on Saturday. A Turkish jet targeted and missed a suspected PKK vehicle northeast of Duhok city, according to local officials.
"The air strike happened at 6:30pm," Mushir Bashir, mayor of Zaweta town in Duhok province, told Rudaw. "They fired a missile at a PKK vehicle in the village of Gundak, but it landed just next to the road missing the vehicle and it managed to escape."
The area is just 20 kilometres from Duhok city, home to about 400,000 people.
Bashir said no one was injured in the airstrike, but it “sparked panic among the villagers.” This is the first time the area has been targeted by Turkey’s bombs, he added.
Footage of Saturday’s incident submitted to Rudaw shows people gathering around the scorched site and collecting shrapnel.
Turkey launched its current offensive in the Kurdistan Region on June 15, with the stated aim of removing PKK fighters from the border areas. Operations have focused on areas in Duhok province’s Zakho region where villagers living in the mountains have borne the brunt of Turkey's bombing.
Seven civilians have been killed and many villages have been abandoned. Two people killed last weekend were initially identified as members of the PKK, but their families later denied the connection. Mohammed Abdulla, whose father was killed in the airstrike, told Rudaw his father had no ties with the PKK.
The PKK, seeking greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey, has been in conflict with the Ankara government for decades. At least 5,000 people have been killed in clashes and attacks since peace efforts failed in July 2015, according to the International Crisis Group. The PKK has its headquarters in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil mountains.
"The air strike happened at 6:30pm," Mushir Bashir, mayor of Zaweta town in Duhok province, told Rudaw. "They fired a missile at a PKK vehicle in the village of Gundak, but it landed just next to the road missing the vehicle and it managed to escape."
The area is just 20 kilometres from Duhok city, home to about 400,000 people.
Bashir said no one was injured in the airstrike, but it “sparked panic among the villagers.” This is the first time the area has been targeted by Turkey’s bombs, he added.
Footage of Saturday’s incident submitted to Rudaw shows people gathering around the scorched site and collecting shrapnel.
Turkey launched its current offensive in the Kurdistan Region on June 15, with the stated aim of removing PKK fighters from the border areas. Operations have focused on areas in Duhok province’s Zakho region where villagers living in the mountains have borne the brunt of Turkey's bombing.
Seven civilians have been killed and many villages have been abandoned. Two people killed last weekend were initially identified as members of the PKK, but their families later denied the connection. Mohammed Abdulla, whose father was killed in the airstrike, told Rudaw his father had no ties with the PKK.
The PKK, seeking greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey, has been in conflict with the Ankara government for decades. At least 5,000 people have been killed in clashes and attacks since peace efforts failed in July 2015, according to the International Crisis Group. The PKK has its headquarters in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil mountains.
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