Four people injured by Turkish artillery near Zakho border areas
ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region – Four people have been injured by Turkish artillery in Zakho on Friday evening. They had been out on a picnic in the border area with Turkey.
The injured have since been discharged from hospital, Rudaw's Yousif Musa reported.
The shelling happened at 6:00 Friday evening in the Psaxa area, Batifa sub-district.
Four young people, two of them professional players of the Zakho football club, went out on a picnic on Friday, a holiday in the Kurdistan Region. They were in the same area where militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are also present.
The PKK is a Kurdish group that has been engaged in a decades-long struggle against the Turkish state calling for greater national and cultural rights for the Kurdish population in Turkey. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization.
Amirkhan Khwasti, who was injured in his leg, told Rudaw from a hospital in Zakho that they visited their home village to have some fun on the holiday.
“After we arrived [at the place] by about 20 minutes, there was shelling by the Turks,” Khwasti, who is a footballer, said. He said that they rushed to a nearby road after the shelling began, but they were injured as the bombardment continued.
He said that it lasted for about an hour, apparently targeting PKK fighters in the area.
“I want to point out that if the PKK were not present in the area, the shelling would not have happened. While I was there, a PKK car had passed by. My understanding is that they were coming back after the launch of an operation,” he continued.
He claimed that the PKK staged the attack to coincide with the Friday holiday, since they know that many civilians would be out on that day spending time with family and friends. He suggested that the PKK is putting the lives of civilians at risk so that there will be animosity between the local people and the Turkish state.
His injury was slightly more serious than the rest of his friends who sustained only minor injuries.
He said a local who remained in the village had transferred them to the hospital in Zakho.
The attack also damaged two cars owned by the four young people.
The Turkish military targets PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region on a regular basis, sometimes resulting in civilian casualties.
One young man, Sidiqi Islam, was killed and five others wounded in Turkish airstrikes in Amedi, in Duhok province in May. It took his family four days before they could recover his body due to continued Turkish bombardment and also having to brave landmines planted in the area.
The injured have since been discharged from hospital, Rudaw's Yousif Musa reported.
The shelling happened at 6:00 Friday evening in the Psaxa area, Batifa sub-district.
Four young people, two of them professional players of the Zakho football club, went out on a picnic on Friday, a holiday in the Kurdistan Region. They were in the same area where militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are also present.
The PKK is a Kurdish group that has been engaged in a decades-long struggle against the Turkish state calling for greater national and cultural rights for the Kurdish population in Turkey. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization.
Amirkhan Khwasti, who was injured in his leg, told Rudaw from a hospital in Zakho that they visited their home village to have some fun on the holiday.
“After we arrived [at the place] by about 20 minutes, there was shelling by the Turks,” Khwasti, who is a footballer, said. He said that they rushed to a nearby road after the shelling began, but they were injured as the bombardment continued.
He said that it lasted for about an hour, apparently targeting PKK fighters in the area.
“I want to point out that if the PKK were not present in the area, the shelling would not have happened. While I was there, a PKK car had passed by. My understanding is that they were coming back after the launch of an operation,” he continued.
He claimed that the PKK staged the attack to coincide with the Friday holiday, since they know that many civilians would be out on that day spending time with family and friends. He suggested that the PKK is putting the lives of civilians at risk so that there will be animosity between the local people and the Turkish state.
His injury was slightly more serious than the rest of his friends who sustained only minor injuries.
He said a local who remained in the village had transferred them to the hospital in Zakho.
The attack also damaged two cars owned by the four young people.
The Turkish military targets PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region on a regular basis, sometimes resulting in civilian casualties.
One young man, Sidiqi Islam, was killed and five others wounded in Turkish airstrikes in Amedi, in Duhok province in May. It took his family four days before they could recover his body due to continued Turkish bombardment and also having to brave landmines planted in the area.