ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Turkish airstrike on Tuesday killed two villagers near Akre in Duhok province as they were tending to their farms, the victims’ families and a local official told Rudaw.
The strike targeted the abandoned Kafia village in Akre district, hitting four villagers who were tending to their farms in the vicinity of the area and killing two, their families said.
“The strike was carried out by a Turkish warplane,” Sarbast Sabri, mayor of Dinara subdistrict which includes Kafia, told Rudaw’s Hunar Rashid.
Turkey frequently bombards the northern mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region under the pretext of targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters.
The strike also comes amid an escalation of violence between Turkey and the PKK after the armed group killed 12 soldiers in the Kurdistan Region in late December, triggering Ankara to carry out retaliatory attacks on the PKK and its alleged offshoots in Syria.
At least seven Turkish soldiers have been confirmed dead in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the year, according to the Turkish defense ministry.
Civilians are often caught in the crossfire of the conflict between Turkey and the PKK. Many families have been forced to flee their homes in the Kurdistan Region's villages because of clashes, especially those in northern Duhok province near the border with Turkey, leaving entire villages empty. A Kurdistan Region parliamentary report published in 2020 said that the Turkey-PKK conflict has left over 500 villages empty across the Region.
The strike targeted the abandoned Kafia village in Akre district, hitting four villagers who were tending to their farms in the vicinity of the area and killing two, their families said.
“The strike was carried out by a Turkish warplane,” Sarbast Sabri, mayor of Dinara subdistrict which includes Kafia, told Rudaw’s Hunar Rashid.
Turkey frequently bombards the northern mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region under the pretext of targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters.
The strike also comes amid an escalation of violence between Turkey and the PKK after the armed group killed 12 soldiers in the Kurdistan Region in late December, triggering Ankara to carry out retaliatory attacks on the PKK and its alleged offshoots in Syria.
At least seven Turkish soldiers have been confirmed dead in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the year, according to the Turkish defense ministry.
Civilians are often caught in the crossfire of the conflict between Turkey and the PKK. Many families have been forced to flee their homes in the Kurdistan Region's villages because of clashes, especially those in northern Duhok province near the border with Turkey, leaving entire villages empty. A Kurdistan Region parliamentary report published in 2020 said that the Turkey-PKK conflict has left over 500 villages empty across the Region.
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