Peshmerga soldier killed in Turkish shelling near Erbil

Shafaq News/ A Peshmerga soldier was killed in the early hours of Friday due to Turkish bombardment targeting the Sidekan area, north of Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Karwan Faisal, the health department director of Sidekan, told Shafaq News Agency that the soldier, Srour Qadir, 46, a father of three, could not be transported to the hospital in time and succumbed to his injuries upon arrival.

It is noteworthy that direct confrontations between Peshmerga (Kurdish military) and Turkish forces are uncommon, but tensions exist due to the presence of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the EU, and the US, operates in northern Iraq near the Turkish border. Ankara views the PKK as a major security threat and conducts airstrikes and military operations against them in this region. However, the Peshmerga's relationship with the PKK is complex.

While both are Kurdish groups, the Peshmerga is the official military of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and avoids direct conflict with Turkiye. The KRG has called on the PKK to move its activities outside Iraqi territory.