Turkish warplanes heavily bombard Kurdish villages in northern Duhok

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish warplanes on Sunday continued to heavily bombard areas in northern Duhok province under the pretext of targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters, sparking fear among locals and children whose sound was heard in the background of a series of videos sent to Rudaw of jets flying over the area.

At least six Turkish warplanes bombarded suspected PKK bases and fighters in Kurazhar Mountain near the town of Shiladze, locals told Rudaw while sending videos of the jets flying over the town.

The PKK early Monday claimed that "tens" of Turkish helicopters targeted the PKK entrenched Zap area as Ankara attempts "to land its troops there," reported media affiliated to the armed group Roj News, adding that the helicopters are flying from bases within the Kurdistan Region.

Turkish state media on Monday said Turkey "launched a fresh cross-border operation along with air, special forces elements" against PKK hideouts in the Kurdistan Region. 

In a number of submitted videos to Rudaw, children can be heard playing in the background, their joyous voices mixing with the sound of warplanes.

Earlier in the day, Ankara targeted Deraluk, Shiladze, and Kani Masi sub-district, Amedi’s mayor Warshin Salman told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali, who noted that Sunday “marks the third week of Turkey’s heavy bombardment on the area."

Turkey has escalated its offenses on the Kurdistan Region, as it nears to mark its one-year anniversary since the announcement of the twin operations Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt in Duhok.

There have been no reports of casualties in the recent bombings, which also come after Kurdistan Region's Prime Minister Masrour Barzani met with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday. 

However, Salman noted that the extent of damages caused by the bombardments have not been estimated as the villages being targeted have been evacuated due to fear of Turkish shelling.

Turkey bombarded Sararo village in Kani Masi early Friday. The shelling left a hole in Radwan Ahmed’s house, who had abandoned the site a year ago due to Turkey’s operations and was only visiting to see the damage.  

Turkey bombarded Hirore village in the same region on Thursday, damaging some houses and vehicles.

Ankara launched the twin against the PKK, an armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization

More than 500 villages have been emptied in the Kurdistan Region over three decades of the Turkey-PKK conflict. 

Updated at 2:02 am