“Fire broke out yesterday evening near Hiror and Brifka villages due to Turkish bombardment and it is still burning,” Ayad Hirori, who is from Hiror village, told Rudaw.
“No one can go there to put it out because it puts people’s lives at risk,” he said.
Duhok’s northern border areas have been the site of frequent clashes between Turkish forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Thousands of dunams of land have been burnt.
The fire raging now in the Amedi area has burned more than 670 dunams (166 acres) of land and is threatening other villages as well, according to a local official.
“Besides Hiror and Brifka villages, fires have broken out near Baze village due to Turkish bombardments and the area is filled with smoke,” Sarbast Sabri, head of Kani Masi sub-district, told Rudaw.
“More than 670 dunams of forested land has burned. Most of the trees that burned are oak trees from people’s orchards,” he added.
Turkey-PKK clashes in Duhok have caused the evacuation of several villages since April 23 – the day Ankara launched Operations Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt targeting alleged PKK positions in northern Duhok province.
A massive fire, caused by Turkish bombardment, in mid-June burned forests near five villages and extinguishing the fire was made difficult due to the ongoing conflict.
Captain Fuad Ahmed, head of media for Duhok’s Forest Police and Environment Directorate, told Rudaw English in May that 4,181 dunams of land in the province was burned because of the conflict in the first five months of 2021, and 56,731 dunams have been burned in the past 10 years.
Additional reporting by Ayub Nasri
