Turkey has suffered many casualties from recent PKK activity, “therefore they conducted heavy airstrikes against civilians’ houses,” the People’s Defense Forces (HPG) said in a statement on Friday.
Turkey “expresses its enmity against the Kurdish nation in this way and wants to take revenge on our people,” the HPG added.
Ramazan Ahmed, Dilovan Salih, and Ismael Hassan were killed Wednesday night when they were out checking their beehives in the Amedi area of Duhok province.
Turkey frequently carries out cross-border airstrikes against alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region. Locals, however, say this was the first time the area where the three were killed was targeted. They describe the region as a touristy place, popular with hikers.
The HPG said their forces were not in the area recently.
The PKK has actually decreased its activities in Duhok province since the US put multi-million dollar bounties on the heads of three the group’s leaders, according to a local official.
The HPG has vowed it will retaliate.
Relatives of the three victims have called for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to work with Turkey to end the airstrikes.
The KRG has not yet publicly commented on the incident.
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