ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish airstrikes have killed three civilians in Makhmour and destroyed a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) shelter in Rawanduz in two separate attacks on Wednesday, according to local officials.
“Turkish warplanes targeted a PKK shelter in Zeni Warte area in Rawanduz district, which is only 200 meters away from the headquarters of the Peshmerga 7th brigade,” claimed Kwistan Ahmed, the head of Rawanduz district.
The shelter was, according to Ahmed, established by PKK guerrillas a week ago between two telecommunication towers.
“The bombardment also resulted in destroying two telecommunication towers that belong to Korek Telecom and Asia cell,” Ahmed said.
Turkey claims that four PKK members were killed in the strike in Rawanduz, which is to the northeast or Erbil.
“4 PKK terrorists neutralized by an air operation in Qandil in northern Iraq. Our operations will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized,” Turkey’s defense ministry tweeted on Wednesday.
Firat News Agency (ANF), a news portal with close ties to the PKK, reported aerial attacks by Turkish warplanes in the area, but did not claim any damage on PKK targets.
The PKK is an armed group which has fought a decades-long war with the Turkish state for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. It is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
A commander of the 7th brigade of Peshmerga forces, who spoke with Rudaw on the condition of anonymity, said that the Turkish bombardment of Zeni Warti on Wednesday caused light injuries to four Peshmerga fighters belonging to the 7th brigade.
“Four Peshmerga in our brigade [...] sustained minor injuries,” the commander said.
According to Bakhtiyar Qadir, a Rudaw reporter in Rawanduz, two Turkish warplanes also targeted areas of Zeni Warti just hours before on Tuesday night.
Makhmour strike
PKK affiliated-media outlet Roj News reported on Wednesday that Turkish warplanes have also targeted an area in Makhmour district, sixty kilometres southwest of Erbil city.
Three civilians were killed in the Turkish airstrikes, Bewar Amin, the head of Makhmour Camp’s media department, told Rudaw English on Wednesday.
“Today around 13:00, Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes outside of Makhmour camp,” Amin claimed.
“Three civilian women were killed by the Turkish airstrike today near Makhmour camp,” Bewar said. “Two women were killed immediately by the airstrikes, and another woman succumbed to her grave injuries and passed away later on.”
Makhmour camp hosts more than 12,000 Kurdish refugees who fled persecution by the Turkish state, largely in the 1990s. The camp has a governing council. An armed force, the Makhmour Protection Units, was established in 2014 when ISIS militants attacked the area. The units are believed to have ties to the PKK.
Last December, an airstrike on the camp killed three and injured seven.
The PKK is headquartered in the Qandil mountains in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, near the border with Turkey and Iran.
Turkey routinely launches land and air operations against the group within its borders, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), as well territories disputed between the KRI and Iraq's central government, such as Shingal and Makhmour. It also regularly targets Kurdish forces in northern Syria, accusing them of ties with the PKK.
The PKK does not usually release statements on Turkish operations against them unless they suffer major losses or a senior commander is killed.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people on both sides, including civilians, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).
A ceasefire came into effect in 2013 during a short-lived peace process, which lasted until July 2015, when the talks collapsed.
Edited by Yasmine Mosimann
