Ibrahim Hassan, 50, was killed in the fight between Turkey and the PKK, Kani Masi district director of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Hashim Trwanshi, told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali.
Hassan was on his way to water his orchard when he was killed, the official added.
A local resident said the area had been bombed around 10:30 Friday morning.
Mayor of Kani Masi, Sarbast Sabri, said Hassan’s body will be taken to Zakho for forensic examination and he will be later buried in his village.
The PKK is an armed Kurdish group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization. For decades, Turkish forces have pursued the PKK within the Kurdistan Region’s borders.
Turkey has launched a series of operations against the PKK in recent years, with the most recent beginning in April. Duhok’s Metina area, on the Turkish border, is the focus of Operation Claw-Thunderbolt, and Operation Claw-Lightning targets the Avashin and Basyan areas further east.
Civilian populations and the environment have been devastated by conflict.
This year, six civilians have been killed, several injured, and 20 villages emptied.
A parliamentary report last year concluded that at least 504 villages have been emptied across the Kurdistan Region since 1992 and hundreds of people have been killed. In Duhok alone, 366 villages have been abandoned since 1998.
Duhok’s environment has been severely damaged, thousands of acres of land have been scorched, and people’s houses and livestock have been hit.
According to figures compiled by the International Crisis Group, which tracks the PKK-Turkey conflict, in the first six months of 2021, there have been 144 fatalities. The dead are 33 Turkish soldiers, 103 PKK fighters, and eight civilians. The majority of the casualties this year have occurred in the Kurdistan Region.
Since the decades-long conflict was reignited in 2015 following the collapse of peace efforts, at least 5,464 people have been killed, including 549 civilians.
A Turkish soldier was reported killed late Thursday night.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly called on Turkey to respect its sovereignty and for the PKK to leave the area.
