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SIDAKAN, Kurdistan Region — Tariq Qadir, a 46-year-old father of three and member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, was killed on Friday night when his car hit an explosive.
Qadir was returning home to the Sidakan area after a day of work in the Choman area, in Erbil’s northeast near the border with Iran. His colleague, Muzafar Hassan, 46, was with him in the car and was injured in the blast.
"It was a public place and on the main road. I went to this area with a very dear friend of mine [Tariq Qadir]. The explosive went off right under our car, martyring this lovely and amazing friend,” said Hassan.
Qadir’s wife, who is chronically ill, says the family is in debt because of her health care costs.
Their youngest child, a boy, is two years old.
The area where the explosion occurred is riddled with landmines left over from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. Dozens of people are maimed or killed every year from the explosives. It is also frequently bombed in a new conflict, this one between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has bases in these mountains.
A local Peshmerga commander blamed the PKK for the death of Qadir, accusing them of laying the explosives.
"PKK fighters laid this TNT explosive. The place where the TNT was placed is the main route that is used by everyone in the area. As I said earlier, we have information that roads, bridges connecting many areas in the region with each other have been mined by the PKK,” said Bahram Arif Yasin, head of Peshmerga Halgurd command.
“Why have they done it and what is their objective? We should ask them this question. The PKK fighters do not have any right to disturb the life and security of our area,” he added.
The PKK on Saturday denied responsibility. “We, as the People's Defense Forces [HPG], declare that our forces had nothing to do with this incident and that our forces are not responsible for this explosion,” read a statement from the HPG, the armed wing of the PKK.
The PKK have planted landmines in unpopulated areas in this region to prevent the advance of Turkish forces.
Qadir was returning home to the Sidakan area after a day of work in the Choman area, in Erbil’s northeast near the border with Iran. His colleague, Muzafar Hassan, 46, was with him in the car and was injured in the blast.
"It was a public place and on the main road. I went to this area with a very dear friend of mine [Tariq Qadir]. The explosive went off right under our car, martyring this lovely and amazing friend,” said Hassan.
Qadir’s wife, who is chronically ill, says the family is in debt because of her health care costs.
Their youngest child, a boy, is two years old.
The area where the explosion occurred is riddled with landmines left over from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. Dozens of people are maimed or killed every year from the explosives. It is also frequently bombed in a new conflict, this one between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has bases in these mountains.
A local Peshmerga commander blamed the PKK for the death of Qadir, accusing them of laying the explosives.
"PKK fighters laid this TNT explosive. The place where the TNT was placed is the main route that is used by everyone in the area. As I said earlier, we have information that roads, bridges connecting many areas in the region with each other have been mined by the PKK,” said Bahram Arif Yasin, head of Peshmerga Halgurd command.
“Why have they done it and what is their objective? We should ask them this question. The PKK fighters do not have any right to disturb the life and security of our area,” he added.
The PKK on Saturday denied responsibility. “We, as the People's Defense Forces [HPG], declare that our forces had nothing to do with this incident and that our forces are not responsible for this explosion,” read a statement from the HPG, the armed wing of the PKK.
The PKK have planted landmines in unpopulated areas in this region to prevent the advance of Turkish forces.
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