ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A demonstration protesting Turkey's recent airstrikes which have claimed the lives of several locals in Shildaze, Duhok province turned violent on Saturday, wounding civilians and police officers at the scene.
The demonstration started at 4pm and was attended by more than 600 people, according to Rudaw’s Hunar Rasheed. Violence reportedly broke out after protesters attempted to march to Turkish observation posts in the area, prompting security forces to use tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The demonstrators called on the PKK and Turkey to take their conflict back to Turkey.
"Two of the protesters were rushed to our centre. One of them sustained a head injury and the other was having difficulty breathing as a result of teargas," said Baravan Ismat, head of the Silhadze Health Center, adding that the wounded are now in a stable condition.
Shakir Abdulaziz, in charge of Amedi Health Department said "four wounded policemen were rushed to Amedi Hospital. They have sustained wounds from rocks and have difficulty breathing."
At least four civilians were killed as Turkish warplanes bombarded areas in Shiladze, east of Duhok, on Friday.
In two separate strikes, three men aged between 30 to 40 were killed, two in Shiladze and one in Kani Masi, located in the Amedi region of Duhok province near the border with Turkey. An additional civilian death was reported later in the day by local officials.
The Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted a video claiming it killed three Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in the strikes.
The Kurdistan Region's border areas have come under bombardment by Turkish and Iranian strikes in recent days as part of a combined aerial and ground-based assault aimed at targeting suspected PKK positions in the region.
Civilians have been repeatedly caught in the crosshairs of the conflict. The PKK, an armed group fighting for the rights of the Kurdish minority in Turkey, is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its allies.
Shildaze is also the site of a Turkish military base that was the site of heated protests in early 2019 when locals accused Turkey of launching airstrikes that killed several civilians in the area.
For decades, both the PKK and Turkish forces have set up military installations along the Turkey-Iraq border. The rough, mountainous region is home mostly to poor farmers who struggle to earn a living. The area is also home to PKK guerillas who use the Qandil Mountains area as a base of operations.
Turkey regularly carries out air and ground attacks against the PKK, which it says maintains bases in areas near the Turkey-Kurdistan Region border.
On Thursday, a shepherd was reported killed in Erbil province's Sidakan district, near the Kurdistan Region's border with Iran. Of the 264 villages in Sidakan district, 118 have been emptied due to Turkish airstrikes and Iranian artillery targeting guerillas of the PKK and other Kurdish insurgent groups.
Turkey has defended its past operations into northern Iraq, saying neither the Iraqi government nor the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have acted to remove PKK insurgents from the area.
