ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Bombs hit the main Duhok-Amedi road on Wednesday afternoon, temporarily halting traffic amid ongoing clashes between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
"The bombing did not cause human losses," Ismael Mustafa, the mayor of Amedi, told Rudaw.
Ismael said that an additional two bombs hit the same road in nearby Sargale village and Kane township, both in the Amedi district.
"The main drinking water pipe of the Deraluk Project that extends to the towns of Bamarne and Sarsang was blown up", said Ismael. "Now maintenance teams are trying to fix it".
He added two civilian vehicles on the road were damaged.
According to photos obtained by Rudaw, a petrol station near the road was also damaged.
Local Rudaw reporters said the bombing by the Turkish military was about 1 kilometer from the center of Amedi and 50 meters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) main office in the town.
The KDP’s head of office in Amedi confirmed with Rudaw English that the strikes hit about 50 meters from their location, "but fortunately no one was hurt."
"We are calling on the PKK to avoid these populated areas so such incidents don’t occur," said Omer Uri, the head of the KDP office in Amedi.
He added there have been other strikes recently against PKK positions in the area.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense acknowledged in a tweet that it targeted areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with airstrikes on Wednesday morning.
As part of Operation Claw, Turkish forces targeted “terrorist organization positions, depots, and hideouts in Zap, Metina and Gara”, the ministry announced.
The areas are close to Amedi, a town and a district, about 70 kilometers north of the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil city.
The strikes signal a possible dangerous escalation.
In the past few years, primarily rural areas were targeted. However, the areas hit in the most recent attacks lie just outside urban centers, raising the risk for civilians who worry of being caught in crossfire of the conflict.
Turkey launched Operation Claw on May 27, targeting PKK positions inside the Kurdistan Region.
The operation is utilizing airplanes, helicopters, artillery, and ground forces.
Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes and military offensives against alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region.
The PKK, a banned political party in Turkey, is headquartered in the mountains of Qandil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq near the borders of Turkey and Iran.
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