Shkoi Kurdistan-
Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) engaged in intense clashes in Zakho area of Duhok province Friday night, sparking fires that destroyed orchards and farmlands. There were no reported civilian casualties.
“Heavy clashes took place from 10 to 11pm last night between PKK guerillas and the Turkish army in the vicinity of several villages in Batifa sub-district,” Dilsher Abdulsatarm, mayor of Batifa, said on Saturday.
Turkey used “Apache helicopters in the fight” and fired at least 15 missiles, he said. “Six missiles hit the vicinity of Bandur village, three missiles landed at the vicinities of Minin, Pirbil and Avleh. And another six missiles landed around the village of Kashane.”
During the firefight, farmland, orchards, and buildings belonging to local villagers caught fire. Video submitted to Rudaw by a villager from Soriya, which also caught fire, shows several buildings burning and the valley filled with smoke.
“Villagers themselves put out the fire,” chieftain Badal Murad said.
The village had previously been abandoned by its residents because of its proximity to clashes between the PKK and Turkey. The Batifa district, with 27 villages, borders Turkey. Thirteen of the villages have been affected by recent bombardments, according to the mayor.
Turkey has pursued the PKK within the Kurdistan Region for decades and this summer it waged intense air and ground campaigns and pushed very close to heavily populated areas. Ankara announced last week it had “successfully completed” its ground war near the border, launched in June, but airstrikes continue and Turkey and Iran recently agreed to conduct joint operations against Kurdish groups they say threaten their security.
While Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi was visiting Zakho and the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing on Thursday, Turkey shelled a village about 80 kilometres to the east.
Eight civilians have been killed during Turkey’s offensive this summer.
A new report by the Kurdistan Regional Parliament catalogues extensive damage caused by Turkish army and, to a lesser extent Iranian army, incursions into the Kurdistan Region since 1992, leaving a staggering 504 villages empty as their residents fled fighting and are now internally displaced.
Both Erbil and Baghdad have repeatedly called on Ankara to halt its attacks and have demanded the PKK cease using Kurdistan Region and Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Turkey.
