Peshmerga injured in PKK mine attack: ministry

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- A Peshmerga fighter was slightly injured after a mine said to be planted by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) exploded in Duhok province’s Amedi district on Wednesday, the Ministry of Peshmerga said in a statement.

The PKK planted a mine on a road used by both Peshmerga forces and civilians, said Deputy Peshmerga Minister Sarbast Lazgin, adding that the mine detonated when a Peshmerga vehicle passed by, “slightly” injuring one of its fighters.

“We want to warn the public and the people of Kurdistan that the PKK is repeating such activities on the borders where the Peshmerga are on duty, as well as other destructive acts,” the deputy added, saying such acts have made the PKK “a threat to the borders and civilians.”

The PKK is an armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey. It has bases in the Kurdistan Region's mountains, and has been fighting Turkish forces in Duhok for the past several months.

Turkey launched twin operations, Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt, against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region on April 23. The focus of the operation is within the Metina and Avashin areas of northern Duhok province.

However, Peshmerga members have also been injured and killed as a result of PKK activity in the area.

Tensions have also been brewing between the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PKK for a year, with both sides trying to assert control in areas of northern Duhok province where Turkey is carrying out operations against the PKK.

In early June, five Peshmerga affiliated with the KDP were killed in the Mount Metina area. The Peshmerga accused the PKK, which denied the charge, but the incident sparked fears of an intra-Kurdish war.

On Monday, a KDP spokesperson said the Kurdistan Region would defend the PKK in talks with Turkey if it returned to the Qandil Mountains, where it is based, as per an agreement from the 1990s.

“The 1992 agreement was not for the PKK to be present in Gara, Metina, Haftanin, Shingal, and Makhmour. They were set to be at Qandil, at the old bases of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),” Mahmood Mohammed told Rudaw’s Bestoon Khalid.

“We have not gone to Qandil because we believe in the agreement, and have not opposed their presence in Qandil. Even now, if they gather all their forces and go to Qandil, then we would even have talks with Turkey and say that they are there as per an agreement,” he added.