LIVE UPDATES: Five Peshmerga killed in Turkish air strike on Mount Shingal

Erdogan says Turkish strikes in Shingal  'absolutely not an operation against the Peshmerga'

"We are obliged to take measures. We must take steps. We informed the US, Russia, northern Iraq and [Kurdish President Masoud] Barzani before we bombed PKK positions in Shingal. We will not allow Shingal to become a PKK base,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace in Ankara. 

“Our operations in Shingal and northern Syria will continue,” he said. 

Erdogan said he regretted the death of several members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, also deployed in Shingal during the Turkish operation and made clear that Turkey's action was "absolutely not an operation against the Peshmerga."

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7:50 p.m.

Abadi addresses Tuesday's airstrikes by Turkey in Shingal

Iraqi PM Abadi briefly spoke about the Turkish airstrikes during his weekly address to the nation.

“Turkey shouldn’t violate the Iraqi sovereignty,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a news conference. 

7:00 p.m.

US encourages Iraq’s neighbors to respect its territorial sovereignty and focus on ISIS

"The Coalition is aware of the Turkish airstrikes in Northern Iraq and Syria.  As we've said in the past, all of Iraq’s neighbors need to respect Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Laura M. Seal, a Department of Defense spokesperson told Rudaw on Tuesday evening.

“We encourage all forces to remain focused on the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and security and concentrate their efforts on ISIS and not toward objectives that may cause the Coalition to divert energy and resources away from the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.”

The Coalition had announced eight strikes near Sinjar on Monday that targeted ISIS weapons facilities, staging areas, weapons caches, and vehicle-borne- and improvised-explosive device factories.

Coalition spokesperson Col. John Dorrian told Rudaw English that the strikes “were against ISIS targets only” and Turkey did not coordinate its strikes with the anti-ISIS Coalition.

“We will continue to support our Iraqi and Syrian partners as they take back their land from this brutal and deadly enemy,” Dorrian said.

The US recognizes Turkey's concerns with PKK, but the State Department has said Turkey's actions  have harmed its partners on the ground.

"We have expressed those concerns with the government of Turkey directly," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on a conference call.

"These air strikes were not approved by the coalition and led to the unfortunate loss of life of our partner forces in the fight against [ISIS]," he said.

"We recognize their concerns about the PKK but these kinds of actions frankly harm the Coalition's efforts to go after ISIS and frankly harm our partners on the ground who are conducting that fight," he added.

The US position under President Donald Trump has been that PKK elements have no role in Shingal.

"We believe — our position on PKK in Sinjar remains the same. We don't believe they should be there," said Mark Toner in a March 8 press conference at the State Department.

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6:30 p.m.

YPG spokesman says 20 fighters in Rojava killed in airstrikes on Tuesday

The strikes occurred on Mount Qara Shouk in Rojava, Syria, about 85 kilometers north of the town of Shingal in Iraq.

“Twenty of our fighters were killed and 18 more injured as a result of the Turkish airstrikes,”Redur Khalil,  the spokesperson for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said.

A road follows the mountain ridge west from the Iraqi border through Qara Shouk. It then intersects with a north-south road connecting the Turkish city of Cizre to the Kurdish enclave of Rojava in northern Syria.

“There is also the Qarachugh mountain range which would give total control of the area to whoever holds it,” Gen. Najat Ali, a Peshmerga commander told Rudaw English in 2015.

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6:15 p.m.

Baghdad calls upon Turkey to respect Iraq’s territorial sovereignty

“We condemn the Turkish air strikes on the Iraqi territory. This will affect relations between Iraq and Turkey,” the Iraqi government spokesperson Saad Adisi told Rudaw. 

“Iraq is insistent on respecting the sovereignty of other countries. We call upon Turkey and all the other neighboring countries to respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi territory. These types of activities will not help solve the problems.”

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6:00 p.m.

The Turkish government has offered to treat the injured

“Referring three injured (Peshmerga) has been discussed. The coordination committee between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey are in contact so that the injured are sent to Turkey,” Colonel Sagvan Abdulkarim, the head the Peshmerga Ministry's health department in Duhok, told Rudaw. 

“The injuries of only two are life-threatening. Others have been treated and are in stable conditions,” he added. 

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3:30 p.m.

Kurdistan Democratic Party condemns airstrikes, calls PKK presence inappropriate

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in a statement to condemn Turkish airstrikes which left five Peshmerga dead and nine others wounded announced the “imposed presence” of PKK fighters in the Shingal region resulted in the incident.

“Once again, we remind our people and all the other parties of the fact that this incident or any of such kind is due to the inappropriate imposed presence of the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, which has not brought any benefits, only chaos.”

PKK also lays the responsibility on the shoulders of the PKK for preventing the reconstruction of the region and seeking out confrontations. 

The statement went on to add that it is not the first time the people of the Kurdistan Region became victims of PKK politics, “which has left its arena and wrongfully transferred its fight to the Kurdistan Region.”

The KDP statement also reads, “even if the attack was a mistake, it is unacceptable.”

“As we’re angry with the bombing of bases and positions of our Peshmerga and are strongly expressing our concerns, we emphasize even if these attacks were carried out mistakenly, it is still unacceptable.”

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2:03pm

Turkish army releases the video of bombing PKK affiliated groups on Mount Shingal 

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1:51pm

Scenes of the aftermath of Turkish airstrike on Mount Shingal

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1:05pm

Five Kurdish parties including PUK, Gorran, Islamic parties strongly condemn attack

Five factions in the Kurdistan Parliament strongly condemned bombing Mount Shingal by Turkish warplanes on Tuesday, calling on the international community to stop Turkey.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Change Movement (Gorran), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU, Ykegirtu) Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) and Kurdistan Islamic Movement, unanimously issued a statement saying “once again, Turkish warplanes violated the sovereignty of the land of the Kurdistan Region and bombed the bases of Peshmerga and {PKK affiliated} fighters as well as people’s public places and other areas.”

The parties also urged the UN and the International community to condemn the attack and deter the Turkish army from acting outside its territory as these acts are against international laws.

The statement also urged the Kurdish parties to unanimously react and speak up against this attack.

The five parties stressed that the Kurdistan parliament in light of this catastrophic event and other concerns should embody the attitude of the people of the Kurdistan Region. 

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12:35pm

PKK-affiliate group confirms death of a fighter

Speaking to the PKK media, Mazloum Shingali, commander of the PKK affiliated YBS in Shingal confirmed the death of a fighter in today’s airstrikes carried out by Turkish warplanes. 

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12:07 p.m.

Peshmerga Ministry calls attacks against its soldiers by Turkey "unacceptable"

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Peshmerga Ministry condemned Turkish airstrikes leading to the death of five Peshmerga soldiers and wounding seven others.
 
“The martyrdom and wounding of Peshmerga is saddening and bombing the Peshmerga by Turkish warplanes is unacceptable,” read a statement by the Peshmerga ministry.
 
The Peshmerga Ministry also says the PKK is responsible for all that happening in Shingal.
 
“We also announce that all the trouble is due to the PKK’s presence in the area and their presence has brought headache and trouble to the region’s people and the Kurdistan Region,” it added.
 
Despite excessive calls on the PKK to leave the region, they have yet to “listen to anyone.”
 
“Hereby, we once again repeat our call on the PKK to withdraw its forces from Mount Shingal and to cause no more instability or deepening of problems in the region and allow life to be restored to the region’s people.”  

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12:00 p.m.

The mayor of Shingal calls on Turkey and the PKK not to transfer their decade-long rivalries to Shingal.

“We call on Turkey and the PKK not to bring in their conflicts to Shingal. Shingal itself is already in wreckage. It needs the language of dialogue of reconstruction,” Mahma Khalil told Rudaw by phone.

Commenting on the presence of PKK affiliate offshoots in the Shingal region, Khalil explained “we have warned UNAMI, the US embassy [in Baghdad] and the countries’ embassies more than 10 times that forces illegally present in the region not lead to further bombardment of the region.”

Khalil detailed that in today’s airstrikes a total of five bases have been bombed, including one that belonged to Peshmerga. 

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11:23am

The General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces claimed in a statement that their airstrikes on Mount Shingal in the Kurdistan Region and Derik in Rojava of northern Syria were to push back threats on its country and that the operations will continue.

“To protect the security of our borders from attacks and threats of the terrorist groups and the transfer of weapons and ammunition to terrorists in Turkish land to carry out terrorists acts and destabilize the security of the country, Turkish warplanes carried out an aerial operation within the context of international law,” read the statement.

The statement also reads “the Turkish army and security forces with strong morale will maintain the military operations to face off any threats which are aimed at targeting the security and stability of the country.”

“The operations will continue until the terrorists have completely been eliminated.”

The wreckage of a base by Turkish warplanes on Mount Shingal. Photo: Roj News

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11:04am

A Peshmerga eyewitness who was at the site of the Turkish airstrikes on Mount Shingal told Rudaw that “the missile which hit the Peshmerga was the last one to land.”

The eyewitness went on to recall the moment of the airstrikes, saying “the incident happened at 2:10am. We called other Peshmerga soldiers and they told us missiles were being fired at the PKK. We advised them to take care of themselves and avoid the airstrike. But they declined saying they were with weapons and could not leave.”

He explained that the warplanes fired 20 missiles against PKK positions “but the last one hit a Peshmerga base,” killing five and wounding seven others.

Colonel Ramazan Aradani, in charge of the Peshmerga location hit by the warplanes said due to the close proximity between PKK bases and that of theirs, two missiles hit their base.

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10:42am

A Peshmerga official on Mount Shingal,  Brig. Smel Busli told Rudaw that “PKK is the reason for what has happened in Shingal.”

Busli added if the PKK leaves Shingal, then Turkey will not send its warplanes to the area. 

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10:24am

A local official in Shingal  revealed to Rudaw that 5 five PKK affiliated fighters were wounded on Tuesday in the Turkish airstrike against their bases on Mount Shingal. 

Khidr Salih, head of the Shingal Reconstruction Council added that, no civilians were killed or wounded in the airstrike. 

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9:54am

In the wake of Turkish airstrikes in Shingal and Derik, the leader of the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) urged the international community to force Turkey to stop its airstrikes on the PYD armed group, People’s Protection Units and Shingal Protection Units (YBS) in Shingal.

Salim Muslim slammed Turkish airstrikes on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) affiliate, YBS on Mount Shingal in the Kurdistan Region and YPG bases in Derik in Rojava of northern Syria stating “Shingal and Rojava were targeted. But in reality, the nation strives to resist. The people raised their condemnations to the highest level. The coalition must not be silent.”

“A nation facing the most brutal terrorist group is being targeted today. The international coalition must no longer keep silence and accept this assault,” he said.

Muslim went on to say “with deploying its [Turkish] troops on the border area we understood that they intended to carry out military operations and prepared to launch assaults. We had the knowledge they would attack and it was expected.”

The PYD leader said “this attack does not scare the Kurdistan nation.”

Casualties among YBS fighters have not been reported yet.

Salih Muslim, co-chairman  of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). 

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9:45am

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) announced that Turkish airplanes launched a large-scale attack on their headquarters on Mount Karachok near the city of Derik in Rojava. 

The YPG statement issued by PKK affiliated media outlets reads “in the early morning of Tuesday at 2am, Turkish warplanes launched a wide-scale attack on the Central Command of the YPG on Mount Karachouk near the city of Derik.”

At least 18 members of the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) were killed in the Turkish air strikes in the town of Derik in Rojava. Group's media report.

It added that the Central Command unit on Mount Karachouk included “the media center, radio station, relations center and some military agencies. In this intense attack a number of our fighters lost their lives and some others were wounded. Names will be released at a later time.”

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8:36am

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—At least five Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were killed Tuesday morning and several others wounded in Turkish air strikes aimed at the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Mount Shingal in western Mosul. In a separate air strike in Syrian Kurdistan known as Rojava 18 Kurdish guerrillas are believed killed.

A base of the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was close to the site of the Turkish air strikes which led to the death of five of them and the injury of 9 others. The air strikes occurred shortly after 02:00 AM local time.