ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Turkish drone on Tuesday killed an off-duty Peshmerga fighter in Duhok province and injured a shepherd. The bombardment took place near a populated area.
Ali Jamil, 44, walked to an area only 250 meters away from his house in Duhok province’s Bamarne subdistrict early Tuesday, but a Turkish drone targeted him at around 7:00 am, injuring him and a nearby shepherd.
Ali succumbed to his injuries and the 23-year-old Matin Sadiq, a shepherd, is receiving treatment at the Duhok Emergency Hospital, their families and a local security source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Rudaw.
“We had guests. He was with us until 10:30 [last night]. After that, we went to his home. I do not know what happened next,” Jamil Kalash, Ali’s father, said, adding that he does not know why his son went to the targeted area.
Ali is survived by four children.
The Turkish defense ministry on Tuesday said in a post on X that its air forces “neutralized” two alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Duhok province.
Turkey uses the term "neutralized" to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed.
The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but it is proscribed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. The Turkish state has been at war with the armed group for several decades. The conflict regularly spills over into the Kurdistan Region where the PKK has its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains.
This was the first time the targeted location was hit by Turkey.Kahraman Türk Silahlı Kuvvetlerimiz, “Ara, bul, yok et!” parolasıyla demirden yumruğunu teröristlerin üzerine indirmeye devam ediyor!
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) December 5, 2023
Kararlılıkla sürdürdüğümüz operasyonlarımız neticesinde, Irak’ın kuzeyindeki Haftanin bölgesinde tespit edilen 2 PKK’lı terörist, SİHA ile… pic.twitter.com/SeZ2ATe6qe
People said they woke up due to the sound of the bombardment.
An irrigation project is under construction near the targeted area but the workers had not started working when the attack was carried out.
Kamaran Osman, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organization that monitors Turkey's operations in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw on Tuesday that Ankara has killed 150 civilians and injured 228 others in the Kurdistan Region since 2015.
Kurdistan Region’s authorities have yet to comment on the Bamarne bombardment.
Clashes between the Turkish army and the PKK have intensified over the past few months in the northern mountains of the Kurdistan Region.
Additional reporting by Naif Ramadhan
