Iraq
Suspected Turkish airstrikes hit a medical centre in Sikeniye village near Shingal on August 17, 2021. Photo: Cira FM
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Turkish army has attacked Shingal for the second day in a row, a Rudaw reporter and local medical workers have confirmed, carrying out airstrikes on a local medical centre.
A Rudaw team reporting from the area came under attack by suspected local forces on the ground.
Airstrikes took place on a medical centre associated with the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) in the village of Sikeniye, Rudaw's reporter in Shingal has confirmed.
Three consecutive strikes hit the facility before a fourth struck 15 minutes later, a witness told Rudaw's Tahsin Qasim.
Local doctors have also confirmed the attack to Rudaw, saying access to the centre was restricted after the airstrike.
The village is located on the south side of the Shingal mountain range. This is the first time it has been targeted by Turkey.
Media outlets close to the YBS reported an unconfirmed number of injuries and deaths.
This is the second suspected Turkish airstrike on the Shingal area in as many days. On Monday, two members of the YBS, including senior commander Said Hassan, were killed in Shingal by a Turkish airstrike. Three civilians were injured as well, according to the YBS.
Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), expressed his concern over the death of Hassan and the other YBS fighter. “This is added to the series of war crimes committed by the Turkish state. The Iraqi government should take the responsibility of protecting the Yazidi minority group who have suffered a lot throughout history," he tweeted.
Ankara has not yet commented on either incident.
Turkey considers the YBS as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, which carries out regular military campaigns against the group at home and in northern Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region.
Nadine Maenza, head of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), condemned the attack, repeating the call she made after the Monday attack. “Turkey's continued targeting of Yazidis should be condemned by the US & intl [international] community,” she tweeted.
Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) also condemned the airstrikes. “We strongly condemn these attacks against Shingal. We do not recognize any policy that does not recognize the will of the Shingal people. The AKP government will pay for these attacks both politically and legally,” said the party’s Central Executive Committee, referring to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
HDP said Ankara, in its airstrikes on Shingal, has disregarded international agreements on humanitarian values.
Rudaw team attacked
Rudaw’s reporter Tahsin Qasim was covering the airstrike, reporting near the site when he was shot at. He told Rudaw English that he was shot by two suspected YBS fighters.
The YBS are the only forces present in the area where Qasim was working, according to Nasr Ali, the head of Rudaw’s Duhok office.
Qasim was injured and is being treated in hospital. The armed men also damaged his team’s vehicle and took their camera and other equipment. The cameraman was unharmed.
Metro Center, a Sulaimani-based organization that advocates for press freedom, condemned the “cowardly” attack on Qasim and called on local authorities in Shingal to “respect the work of media outlets and not make obstacles for them. They should also investigate this cowardly attack.”
This is the third time Rudaw teams have faced problems in the Shingal area. Ali and his team barely escaped an abduction attempt by armed men in Shingal earlier this month. And in February, Qasim and his cameraman Naif Ido were briefly detained by a brigade with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
There are several armed groups and forces operating in the Shingal area, including those with loyalties to the PKK, the PMF, federal forces, and the Peshmerga. Baghdad and Erbil last October announced an agreement outlining a plan for governance and security in the troubled region. The deal puts Iraqi forces in charge of security in Shingal, tasking them with removing the various armed groups and establishing a new force from the local population. The agreement has largely not been implemented.
Updated at 10:49 pm
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