ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Clashes erupted Wednesday night between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Peshmerga forces in Erbil’s Bradost area. Neither side has reported any casualties.
The Peshmerga’s Halgurd Command, which is affiliated with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on Thursday said the militant group attacked with heavy weaponry. The PKK accused the Peshmerga of doing the same. Both groups claimed the other withdrew from the fight.
“A number of PKK attacked Peshmerga with RPG, snipers, BKC and AK-47, but Peshmerga defeated them,” Peshmerga Commander Bahram Arif Yasin, told Rudaw’s Bakhtyar Qadir, adding that no Peshmerga was injured.
“It’s been a year that the PKK is fighting the Peshmerga, they plant main roads to villages with TNTs, and they are giving the Turkish army an excuse to evacuate the villages more,” the commander added.
PKK-affiliated Roj News media acknowledged the attack. They claimed that “the armed forces of Halgurd attacked with heavy weaponry in the Bradost area,” citing an unnamed PKK source. “The guerilla fired at the sky and the KDP forces ran away and left the area.”
Two weeks ago, the Turkish military launched new operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region. The Metina area, on the border, is the focus of Operation Claw-Thunderbolt, and Operation Claw-Lightning targets the Avashin and Basyan areas further east.
The PKK source added that the KDP forces “ were warned by the guerillas that they can’t settle here. The KDP armed men in response fired, they even used RPG.” No casualties were reported.
The PKK is a Kurdish armed group fighting for increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. It has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984.
Tensions between Peshmerga and the PKK have been high over the past year.
The PKK has accused the KDP of working with Turkey. In comments published on Thursday, senior PKK leader Cemil Bayik said “forces in Kurdistan itself” are collaborating with Turkey to commit “genocide” against the Kurds.
In December, one Peshmerga was killed and three PKK fighters were heavily injured in fighting, one of whom later passed away, in clashes between the two sides in Duhok’s Amedi district.
The PKK and Peshmerga clashed in November which resulted in the death of two Peshmerga in Amedi district in Duhok.
One person was injured in a TNT explosion last month in Erbil’s Sidakan area. The mayor of the area said it had been recently littered with mines due to tensions between Turkey and the PKK. A similar incident lead to the injury of two people one week later.
Updated at 7:42 pm
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