ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish drone targeted a vehicle of an armed group affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Shingal on Sunday, killing at least three members of the group.
PKK-affiliated Rojnews reported that a car in Sardasht subdistrict near Shingal was targeted by a drone strike, blaming Turkey for the attack.
The Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) announced later in the day that three of its members were killed as a result of the strike.
The Erbil-based Kurdistan counterterrorism claimed that the Turkish drone had targeted a vehicle belonging to the PKK, killing one senior official and three fighters.
Turkey usually targets PKK members inside the borders of the Kurdistan Region, under the pretext of countering terrorism.
Neither Ankara nor the PKK have commented on the attack. The PKK rarely issues statements regarding Turkish operations against them unless there are significant losses or the death of a senior commander.
Ankara occasionally carries out such attacks against PKK-affiliated forces in Shingal where several armed forces affiliated with the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) are also present.
PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has listed it as a terrorist group. The All-Yazidi YBS and Ezidkhan Asayish were formed by the PKK after ISIS controlled Shingal and killed and kidnapped thousands of Yazidis. They control parts of Shingal.
Turkey considers both Yazidi groups as offshoots of the PKK and has targeted their positions in Shingal numerous times, killing dozens of their members, including top commanders.
