YBS says Turkish drones killed two commanders in Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) on Monday announced that two of its commanders were killed in a Turkish drone attack in Shingal while going to a wake, adding that a fighter was injured too. 

YPS, which is affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said in a statement that three of its members were on the way to the wake of two people in Shingal when they came under a drone attack by Turkish forces.  

Two commanders - Seed Ali Bada (aka. Pir Chako) and Khayri Khidir Khalaf (aka. Agir Jafri) - were killed in the attack and an unnamed fighter was injured. Pir Chako joined the group in 2016 and the other one joined it when the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked Shingal in 2014, according to the statement.  

However, the Erbil-based counterterrorism forces said a YBS commander and two fighters were killed in the assault. 

PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has listed it as a terrorist group. The All-Yazidi YBS was formed by the PKK immediately after ISIS controlled Shingal and killed and kidnapped thousands of Yazidis.

Turkey considers the YBS as an offshoot of the PKK and has targeted its positions in Shingal numerous times, killing dozens of its members, including top commanders. 

YBS has controlled parts of Shingal since ISIS was defeated in the town but the presence of this force and several other forces in the district has been blamed for insecurity which has prevented thousands of its residents, who fled Shingal in 2014 due to ISIS war, from returning. 

There have been no comments from Turkey regarding the attack.