ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of people affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked the opposition Kurdish National Council (ENKS) office in Dirbesiye town, northeast Syria (Rojava) early Friday as members of the latter were celebrating the Kurdistan Flag Day. Six people were injured, the Council said in a statement.
The Revolutionary Youths militia group attacked their office in Dirbesiye, according to the statement shared on Friday by the ENKS. “They set the office on fire and attacked Nizammuddin Aliko and another person.” Aliko is a local official of the Council in the town.
Footage submitted by the ENKS to Rudaw English shows that Aliko is covered in by blood while still wearing the Kurdistan Flag around his neck, with and the office severely damaged by the fire.
This is not the first time ENKS offices have been attacked. Such incidents have taken place dozens of times in recent years as the relations between the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) and ENKS remain thorny.
Revolutionary Youths, which ENKS says is affiliated to the PYD, has been accused of conducting the majority of the attacks on offices belonging to the ENKS.
Sulaiman Oso, a senior ENKS official, told Rudaw English that six people were injured, including Aliko whose injury is serious.
Mazloum Abdi, General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), condemned the attack, saying an investigation has been launched to arrest the perpetrators.
"We condemn the attack on the office of the Kurdish National Council early today in Dirbesiye by a group of illegal saboteurs whom we believe [actually] targeted the Autonomous Administration and the authority of the security forces in the area," he said in a tweet hours after the incident.
Many Kurds celebrate the Kurdistan Flag Day on December 17. It was celebrated in the Kurdistan Region on Thursday because Friday falls over the Region’s weekend.
Relations between the PYD and ENKS entered a significantly worse stage in the summer of last year, after the PKK and Peshmerga forces clashed in the Region’s Dohuk province.
PKK is a Kurdish armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey.
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