ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish drone bombarded Makhmour refugee camp in Erbil province, controlled by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), causing one casualty and material damages, a media outlet affiliated with the group reported on Monday. The drone targeted a house in Makhmour camp and injured Abu Zayd Abdullah, a father of six children, who later succumbed to his injuries after being taken to a hospital, PKK-affiliated Rojnews and Firat News Agency (ANF) said. Turkish forces frequently bombard PKK-controlled Makhmour camp in Erbil province on the grounds of targeting PKK fighters. Three people were killed in a suspected Turkish airstrike near the camp in June 2021. The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and frequently targets it at home as well as southward in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and has launched successive cross-border operations against the group. Makhmour camp hosts more than 12,000 Kurdish refugees who fled persecution by the Turkish state, mostly in the 1990s. It is located in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. Last month, a Turkish drone targeted the camp and only caused material damages, hours after an Iraqi military delegation visited Makhmour. The Iraqi government lost control of Makhmour camp when the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked the country and took control of large swathes of territory. Saeed al-Jayashi, Security Advisor at the Iraqi National Security Advisory, told Rudaw in late February that the federal government is seeking to retake control of the administration, security, and services of the camp.
