Turkish jets attack alleged PKK targets close to Christian village in Kurdistan Region
The moment a Turkish airstrike hits an area in the Kurdistan Region, Oct. 6, 2019. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish bombardment on Sunday targeted alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the Kurdistan Region’s border areas, damaging agricultural lands near a Christian village.
Turkish jets destroyed farmlands close to a Christian village in the Naheli area of the Amedi district.
A source in the area told Kurdistan 24 the location of the airstrikes was only a few hundred meters away from the village. The source said the bombardment caused a fire in the surrounding area, burning the agricultural lands and spreading fear among villagers.
No casualties have been reported.
However, the source added that shepherds fled the area in fear, leaving behind their distressed cattle.
Sunday’s bombing marks the second airstrike in the area within the last three days against alleged PKK targets.
The group has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against Ankara over Kurdish rights and self-rule that has resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 people on both sides.
In the past year, Turkey has carried out military operations against PKK fighters based within the Kurdistan Region with continued regularity, with Turkish forces having crossed up to 20 kilometers past its borders in some areas to target the group.
Such attacks have led to the evacuation of many villagers from the Kurdistan Region because the bombardment damages residential and agricultural lands, and, on occasion, kill civilian bystanders about whom there are no claims of PKK affiliation.
Aggrieved locals and officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have long urged both sides to take their conflict elsewhere.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
