ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday that Turkey’s recent bombardment of northeast Syria (Rojava) has killed 11 civilians and tens of members of Kurdish forces. Turkey has denied targeting civilians.
Two armed men attacked Turkey’s interior ministry on October 1, with one of them blowing himself up. Two Turkish officers were injured in the attack which was later claimed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - armed group struggling for increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but proscribed as a terrorist organization by Ankara. Hours later, Turkish armed forces carried out airstrikes against PKK’s alleged positions in the Kurdistan Region and Kurdish forces in Rojava.
“This [campaign] led to the martyrdom of about 45 including 11 civilians and members of the anti-drug forces while they were at a training center on a non-combat mission at the time,” said the SDF in a statement on Tuesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday claimed that they had “neutralized” 162 members of Kurdish forces.
Turkey uses the term “neutralized” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed.
The SDF said Erdogan’s claim was “false information.”
“We want to emphasize that these claims are repeated lies and disinformation. The targets attacked by the Turkish occupation were primarily civic service facilities that served the local population,” said the US-backed force.
Turkey has relentlessly bombarded Kurdish sites in northeast Syria since Thursday, striking military targets and civilian infrastructure, including power stations, oil fields, and other basic services in Rojava.
Erdogan said only members of PKK and SDF’s backbone, People’s Protection Units (YPG), were targeted in what he called the first phase of the military campaign.
“The first phase of our operation, in which we targeted only members of the terrorist organization, facilities used by terrorists, sources of income and capabilities of terrorism, was completed successfully,” he was cited by Al-Monitor as saying.
Kurdish officials have disputed Erdogan’s claim, saying Ankara targets civilian facilities as well.
“During the past 72 hours, Turkey targeted more than 145 locations in our safe region, including power stations, water and energy facilities, hospitals, and schools,” SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi said on Sunday.
