Three killed in suspected Turkish strike on Shingal: Peshmerga

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least three people were killed and one was injured in Shingal on Friday as a result of suspected Turkish airstrikes, according to a Peshmerga commander.

“Three people belonging to the YBS [Shingal Resistance Units] have been martyred” in an attack on their base near Shingal city center, Haider Shasho, Ezidikhan Protection Forces commander, told Rudaw.

The Ezidikhan Protection Forces are a Yazidi division within the Peshmerga ministry.

“A civilian woman was injured in the attack,” Shasho said.

“The bombardments continued every half hour until 3:00 in the morning today,” he added.

YBS has remained in control of parts of Shingal since the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS). The numerous armed groups in the area have been identified as one of the sources of continued insecurity that has prevented the return of thousands of Shingal’s residents who fled ISIS in 2014. Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to normalize the situation in Shingal, but the deal has yet to be implemented.

Turkey considers the YBS an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and has targeted its positions in Shingal numerous times, killing dozens of its members, including top commanders.

This most recent strike was part of a wave of Turkish attacks across northeast Syria (Rojava) and northern Iraq following a deadly assault by the PKK on an aerospace firm in Ankara.

The Turkish interior ministry stated that 32 “targets belonging to terrorists” were “neutralized” as a result of their campaign.

In Rojava, 12 civilians have been killed as of Thursday, according to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Strikes continued on Friday morning and there are reports of more casualties.

A suspected Turkish drone also flew around Makhmour camp on Thursday night, but did not conduct any strikes, according to an informed source who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity.

Makhmour camp hosts around 10,000 Kurdish refugees from southeast Turkey, many of whom were displaced by the conflict between Turkey and the PKK. In September, two suspected Turkish airstrikes hit the camp in the span of one week, killing two people and injuring four others.

The attack on the aerospace firm came amid a growing expectation that Turkey may restart peace talks with the PKK to bring an end to the 40-year conflict, but in its statement claiming responsibility the PKK said the two are unrelated.