Turkey continues airstrikes on Zakho for eighth day in a row
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish aircraft have resumed airstrikes on the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province earlier Tuesday morning against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets, forcing locals from two villages to flee their homes.
"Since 5 am in the morning, Turkey has been bombing Mount Khamter and its surrounding areas [in Darkare] with their artillery and airstrikes," Zervan Musa, mayor of Darkare, told Rudaw Tuesday afternoon, adding that "23 missiles and mortars have landed in the region."
"The roaring and hovering of warplanes and mortars have terrified the people of the region," Musa added.
The Kurdistan Region's border areas have come under fire from both Turkish and Iranian strikes over the past eight days, as part of a military offensive with the stated aim of targeting suspected PKK positions in the region. Turkey's Operation Claw-Eagle aerial assault began on June 15, while an accompanying ground campaign, Operation Claw-Tiger, began on June 17.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the massive Turkish offensive. Since June 15, five locals have been killed by the Turkish airstrikes, including four civilians in Shiladze and Kani Masi towns in Duhok and one in Erbil province's Sidakan region, bordering Iran.
Related: Duhok villagers mourn Turkish airstrike death
Dilsher Abdulsatar, mayor of Batifa sub-district, said Tuesday's bombings have resulted in locals from the two villages of Kashane and Shilame fleeing out of fear for their lives.
"There are 15 families from Kashane, and nine families from Shilame. They have taken shelter in the house of their relatives in Batifa center and other surrounding villages," he added.
Darkare and Batifa are small sub-districts located in the Sinat-Haftanin area, which lay along the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border. The PKK, an armed group that has fought a decades-long battle with Ankara for greater political rights for Kurds in Turkey, is currently based in the mountain range that spans across the Turkey-Kurdistan Region-Iran border. Ankara regularly carries out airstrikes and ground operations against suspected PKK positions inside the Kurdistan Region.
The residents of a total of ten villages in Zakho have now fled the Turkish military operation over the past eight days.
Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK leader and member of the group's executive body, told the party-affiliated Sterk TV on Monday, that the armed group will not be withdrawing from Haftanin.
"The enemy has its techniques and may possibly capture certain locations in Haftanin, but they cannot control everywhere. Wherever they capture, they must pay the price and they must die with it. We will show resistance in any place they go to... We will show them a historical resistance and our comrades have vowed for that end," said Karayilan.
Batifa mayor Abdulsatar added that locals from a third village, Banka, are believed to have fled as well, fearing the constant bombings.
Turkey has defended its past operations in the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq, saying neither the Iraqi government nor the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have acted to remove PKK insurgents from the area.
On Monday, a high-level Iraqi military delegation visited the site of the Turkish bombings in Duhok province to investigate the aftermath of the week-long Turkish military operations in the area.
The delegation, which is working in coordination with the KRG's interior ministry, is to provide Iraqi premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi with a report detailing its findings.
Details of "all the losses and impact of the Turkish operation's bombings on locals will be handed over to the delegation," Botan Muhsin, Mayor of Zakho in northern Duhok province told Rudaw on Monday.
Related: Christian locals in Duhok terrorized by Turkey's bombings
"Since 5 am in the morning, Turkey has been bombing Mount Khamter and its surrounding areas [in Darkare] with their artillery and airstrikes," Zervan Musa, mayor of Darkare, told Rudaw Tuesday afternoon, adding that "23 missiles and mortars have landed in the region."
"The roaring and hovering of warplanes and mortars have terrified the people of the region," Musa added.
The Kurdistan Region's border areas have come under fire from both Turkish and Iranian strikes over the past eight days, as part of a military offensive with the stated aim of targeting suspected PKK positions in the region. Turkey's Operation Claw-Eagle aerial assault began on June 15, while an accompanying ground campaign, Operation Claw-Tiger, began on June 17.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the massive Turkish offensive. Since June 15, five locals have been killed by the Turkish airstrikes, including four civilians in Shiladze and Kani Masi towns in Duhok and one in Erbil province's Sidakan region, bordering Iran.
Related: Duhok villagers mourn Turkish airstrike death
Dilsher Abdulsatar, mayor of Batifa sub-district, said Tuesday's bombings have resulted in locals from the two villages of Kashane and Shilame fleeing out of fear for their lives.
"There are 15 families from Kashane, and nine families from Shilame. They have taken shelter in the house of their relatives in Batifa center and other surrounding villages," he added.
Darkare and Batifa are small sub-districts located in the Sinat-Haftanin area, which lay along the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border. The PKK, an armed group that has fought a decades-long battle with Ankara for greater political rights for Kurds in Turkey, is currently based in the mountain range that spans across the Turkey-Kurdistan Region-Iran border. Ankara regularly carries out airstrikes and ground operations against suspected PKK positions inside the Kurdistan Region.
The residents of a total of ten villages in Zakho have now fled the Turkish military operation over the past eight days.
Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK leader and member of the group's executive body, told the party-affiliated Sterk TV on Monday, that the armed group will not be withdrawing from Haftanin.
"The enemy has its techniques and may possibly capture certain locations in Haftanin, but they cannot control everywhere. Wherever they capture, they must pay the price and they must die with it. We will show resistance in any place they go to... We will show them a historical resistance and our comrades have vowed for that end," said Karayilan.
Batifa mayor Abdulsatar added that locals from a third village, Banka, are believed to have fled as well, fearing the constant bombings.
Turkey has defended its past operations in the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq, saying neither the Iraqi government nor the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have acted to remove PKK insurgents from the area.
On Monday, a high-level Iraqi military delegation visited the site of the Turkish bombings in Duhok province to investigate the aftermath of the week-long Turkish military operations in the area.
The delegation, which is working in coordination with the KRG's interior ministry, is to provide Iraqi premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi with a report detailing its findings.
Details of "all the losses and impact of the Turkish operation's bombings on locals will be handed over to the delegation," Botan Muhsin, Mayor of Zakho in northern Duhok province told Rudaw on Monday.
Related: Christian locals in Duhok terrorized by Turkey's bombings