Ten villages in the Batifa subdistrict of Duhok province’s Zakho area came under intense bombardment beginning around 6:30 pm Friday evening and lasting until late in the day, mayor Dlsher Abdulsattar told Rudaw English.
No casualties have been reported, but the bombardment created “a lot fear” among villagers, said the mayor. For some of the villages, this was the first time they came under Turkish attack.
Nizar Majeed, a local resident of Batifa, told Rudaw that the bombardment continued in his hometown and the nearby villages in Baguva subdistrict until early Saturday morning.
Batifa has frequently come under heavy bombardment by Turkish forces since Ankara launched its most recent land and air offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in mid-June. There has, however, been little activity in Baguva.
Some of Turkey’s bombs landed near bases of Iraqi border guards, but did not cause casualties, a security source in Zakho told Rudaw English on condition of anonymity.
“The bombardment has caused a lot fear among locals of 4 or 5 villages in both Batifa and Baguva. What makes the bombardment different is that it was very intense,” said the security source.
In August, two members of the border guards were killed in a Turkish drone strike, causing the Iraqi government to cancel a planned visit of Turkey’s defense minister to Baghdad.
One day before this latest attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Their discussions included joint operations against the PKK – an armed group with bases in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains and fighting for increased political and cultural rights of Kurds in Turkey.
In a joint press conference on Thursday, Erdogan said they “decided to continue our fight against our common enemies – Daesh [Islamic State], PKK, and FETO [Fethullah Gulen’s Service Movement] terrorist organisations.”
Kadhimi did not name any specific groups, but said he condemns “any action that threatens Turkey or any threat sourced from Iraqi soil against Turkey’s national security.”
