A senior Peshmerga commander in the area, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, told Rudaw English that a
An off-duty Peshmerga fighter, Nazwad Rasheed, lives in the area and was riding his cycle of violence around the time the earth-shattering kaboom occurred. He was shot at by
The
Media affiliated with the PKK reported the group attacked the
Roj News also reported three
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...has not commented on the incident but its defense ministry said in a statement at midday that they bombed PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region and "neutralized" five fighters. Ankara uses the word neutralized to refer to those killed, surrendered, or otherwise removed from the battlefield.
Payam TV, television channel and mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Islamic Group, published a video purportedly showing
Turkey launched air and ground operations against alleged PKK bases within the Kurdistan Region and disputed territories in mid-June. At least eight civilians have been killed during the operations. The latest person killed was a 60-year-old teacher, Khalid Abdulrahman, who was gathering his livestock from a village that came under a
Turkey has pursued the PKK in the Kurdistan Region for decades, but its campaign this summer is pushing into populated areas and kilometers away from major urban centres.
Dlsher Abdulsattar, mayor of Batifa subdistrict in Duhok province, told Rudaw on Friday, "
Residents of the village had already left their homes so no one was hurt, but the
Tens of villages have been vacated in Duhok province since Turkey launched its offensive.