Suspected Turkish bombardment targets villages in Duhok province

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Suspected Turkish bombardment targeted Duhok province’s Akre and Amedi several times with no casualties reported, a local official told Rudaw on Sunday. 

Akre’s acting mayor Shaaban Barwari told Rudaw that alleged Turkish warplanes had struck villages in Dinarte district at 11:30pm on Saturday.

A local villager from Amedi, Ramzi Sargali, told Rudaw’s Nasser Ali that Turkish aircraft has been bombing the area for almost three months and while no casualties have been inflicted, it is causing fear among the local population. 

Turkey launched its latest operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, on April 18 targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the mountainous areas of Metina, Zap, Avashin, and Basyan in Duhok province. The operation is the fourth stage of Ankara’s Claw operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, with the first stage starting in 2019. 

The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and frequently targets it at home as well as southward in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and has launched successive cross-border operations against the group.

In July, nine people were killed and dozens were injured in bombardment attributed to Turkey targeting a resort in Duhok’s Zakho. The incident sparked widespread condemnation at the time of Turkey by Iraqi officials.

More than 500 villages have been emptied in the Kurdistan Region over three decades of the Turkey-PKK conflict. 

Most of Turkey’s military operations against the PKK in recent years have been carried out in Duhok province and the fighting intensely continues there. 

However, Ankara also conducts attacks against the group in Sulaimani and Erbil provinces, especially Makhmour refugee camp in Erbil.

By Klawdia Martani