Turkish planes continue to strike Kurdistan, killing all in alleged PKK vehicle
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish fighter jets on Thursday afternoon targeted what is reportedly a vehicle used by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), destroying it and killing all passengers inside. The incident occurred near a village located in the northernmost part of the Kurdistan Region.
A local source told Kurdistan 24 that Turkey had dropped bombs on the vehicle that was carrying an unspecified number of passengers near the Kaniya Masiya village of the Barwari Bala region of Duhok province, adding that all those on board were killed and the surrounding area was also damaged.
Simultaneously, Turkish jets also bombarded the main road leading to Derashiyan village, located in Dohuk's district of Amadiya (Amedi). In total, there were four separate strikes, local sources told Kurdistan 24.
These developments come as Turkey continues its "Operation Claw" campaign against the PKK, which is headquartered in the Qandil Mountains of the Kurdistan Region. On Wednesday, Ankara’s warplanes also bombarded Sulaimani province’s border areas with Iran, targeting additional alleged PKK positions.
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 guerilla 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, kills 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.
In a report on Thursday, Reuters cited a security source as saying that Turkey's warplanes had recently killed the alleged planners of a recent shooting in the capital of Erbil that resulted in the death of a Turkish diplomat. It was unclear how many of the purported planners had been killed.
Read More: Turkish consulate employee, 2 civilians killed in Erbil shooting: Security
On July 17, Erbil-based Turkish diplomat Osman Kose, along with two local residents, was killed in a brazen daytime attack while dining at an upscale restaurant, an incident that the KRG strongly condemned and labeled a “premeditated terrorist attack.”
Three days later, Kurdish security officials announced the arrest of two charged with involvement in the shooting. The primary suspect is a man in his twenties from the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed), Turkey named Mazloum Dagin and his accomplice was named as Muhammad Biskisz.
Read More: Kurdistan security arrest suspects in Turkish diplomat killing in Erbil
Although investigations by local Kurdish authorities on the attack are still ongoing, most eyes are on the PKK as most likely to have been behind the shooting due to the continued hostilities between the group and the Turkish government.
The PKK, for its part, has denied any connection with the shooting. On Wednesday, though, one of its senior commanders on Wednesday praised the perpetrators for their work, noting that it was done by some youths and “sympathizers” of the group.
“Thank you to whoever carried this out,” said Bahoz Erdal, during an interview with the PKK-affiliated Sterk TV channel in which he claimed that the diplomat had been a member of the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) and responsible for anti-PKK operations in the Kurdistan Region.
Editing by John J. Catherine