VIDEO: Turkish shelling injures three villagers in Kurdistan Region border town
The attacks were believed to be targeting PKK fighters in the area.
Turkey has routinely shelled and otherwise attacked areas well past its borders and into the Kurdistan Region in past months and years, killing and injuring many civilians about whom there are no claims of PKK affiliation.
The PKK has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against Turkey over Kurdish rights and self-rule. Turkey, the United States, and the European Union all designate it as a “terrorist” group.
The clashes between the PKK and Turkish forces have led to the evacuation of hundreds of villages in the autonomous Kurdistan Region located near the Turkish border.
The PKK is thought to have fighters near hundreds of villages inside the Kurdistan Region, mainly in the mountainous areas near the Turkish border.
As part of the conflict, the Turkish army has crossed its southern border several times in the past year, in some places, up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) deep into the Kurdistan Region.
Villagers have repeatedly called on both sides to take their battle elsewhere as many have fallen victim to Turkey’s airstrikes and artillery attacks.
Editing by Nadia Riva
(Additional reporting by Teyfur Mohammed)
