ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Renewed Turkish bombardment on Tuesday targeted a number of villages in Erbil province's Bradost area as Ankara’s ongoing operation in the Kurdistan Region nears its second week.
“Starting 10:00 am, the Turkish army started bombarding some villages of Bradost,” Sidakan mayor Ihsan Chalabi told Rudaw’s Bakhtyar Qadir.
There are no reports of damaged material or casualties, he added.
Ankara often bombards the Kurdish mountains under the pretext of targeting suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases – a Kurdish armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey with several bases in the Kurdistan Region. Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist organization.
Last week, Turkey marked the start of a new military operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, the offensive aims to target the group’s hideouts and ammunition on Turkey’s border with the Region’s Duhok province.
The Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar, on Sunday, said once their recent anti-PKK offense is over, the group will no longer be able to cross Turkey’s borders with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Akar claimed that they have “neutralized” 56 PKK fighters since the fresh operation began last Monday. Turkish officials use the term “neutralize” to imply surrenders, killings, or capturing. However, Turkey has announced the death of six of its soldiers.
The PKK claimed on Monday that they have killed 218 Turkish soldiers in Duhok and injured 48 others since the operation began. The group added that it lost 11 fighters in Avashin and Zap areas.
The Turkish army has established dozens of outposts in the bordering areas in the Kurdistan Region in pursuit of PKK fighters that have fought Turkey since the 1980s.
Iraq and Tehran have repeatedly called on Ankara to leave the Iraqi land and respect the borders.
