Turkey bombards Duhok’s Batifa subdistrict: mayor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish forces are bombarding the vicinity of Duhok’s Batifa subdistrict following an attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), its mayor has told Rudaw English. 

“At 5:30pm, a Turkish military base near Gire Biye village was attacked [by PKK fighters]. It only lasted for five minutes,” said Batifa Mayor Dlsher Abdulsattar, saying an “ongoing” Turkish bombardment began shortly afterwards.

Despite its proximity to a local village, the area under bombardment is an uninhabited mountainous area, the mayor said. 

The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization. 

Turkey frequently bombards areas in the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq’s disputed territories on the grounds of targeting PKK positions. 

Scores of civilians have been killed in Turkey’s operations and more than 500 villages have been emptied, their residents displaced during decades of conflict.  

Thursday’s bombardment has not been reported by either Turkey or the PKK. 

Two people were injured after a civilian vehicle was targeted by the Turkish army in Sinin village in the Sidakan subdistrict, near the Iranian border, on March 19.