Suspected Turkish attack kills one civilian in Sulaimani province: Officials

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish airstrike targeted the vicinity of a village in Sulaimani province on Friday, killing one civilian and injuring five others, according to local officials.

Kamaran Hassan, mayor of Mawat town in Sulaimani province, told Rudaw on Friday that the vicinity of Galala village “was bombarded while there were some people in the area. It is not clear whether the bombardment was carried out through a warplane or a drone.”

He initially said that two civilians from the nearby Qamish village were killed in the incident and one was missing. The official later updated the figure, saying only one person was killed. 

“It is not clear which force or country carried out the attack but the area has previously been bombarded by Turkey several times,” noted the mayor.

Saman Latif, head Sulaimani health directorate's media office, told Rudaw that one person was killed and five others were injured.

Ankara frequently bombards Kurdistan Region’s mountainous area on the grounds of targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters. 

PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara has listed the group as a terrorist organization. 

Turkey on November 20 launched an aerial offensive against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, focusing on Sulaimani province, and the Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria (Rojava). Ankara claims to have hit hundreds of targets since then. 

 

Updated at 10:00pm