ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An unexploded Turkish bomb landed near a Christian village in northern Duhok province, causing fear among local residents.
The artillery shell is lying just 50 meters away from houses in Chalke village. Some residents of neighboring Kesta village had fled clashes between the Turkish army and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and sought refuge in Chalke. But with the projectile falling so close to people’s homes, they still don’t feel safe.
There is a risk to the village if the bomb explodes, Mahmoud Kestayi, mukhtar (chief) of Kesta, told Rudaw’s Hunar Rasheed.
“We remember this happened during Saddam’s era,” he said, referring to Iraqi dictator President Saddam Hussein whose army frequently bombarded Kurdish villages on the grounds of fighting Peshmerga forces decades ago.
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 is an armed Kurdish group, seeking increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and a threat to its national security. It frequently sends fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones, and ground troops across the border to fight the group.
Kesta village was completely evacuated on Tuesday night after Turkish bombardment in the vicinity of the village intensified. Residents fled to Chalke and other nearby areas temporarily, waiting for the situation to deescalate.
Some villagers returned to Kesta on Thursday to collect furniture and other items.
“We are afraid to leave and we don’t even have a place to go. We have been displaced. We are heading to Brifka,” said villager Hawa Musa, adding that they will pile up their belongings in the yard of a house until they find a place to stay.
