Turkish drone targets suspected PKK members in Sinjar; injuries reported

Shafaq News/ On Monday, a police source in Nineveh reported that three individuals, suspected to be members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were injured in an airstrike believed to have been conducted by a Turkish drone in the Sinjar district.

The source informed Shafaq News Agency, stating, "The airstrike targeted a civilian car (Tucson) transporting three Yazidis, suspected to be PKK-affiliated, on the road between the Tal-Qasab complex and Sinjar district, west of Mosul."

"The injured were transferred to a nearby hospital for treatment, and it was not clear whether there were any deaths among them," he added.

The conflict between Turkiye and the PKK dates back to the early 1980s when the PKK, founded by Abdullah Öcalan, began advocating for an independent Kurdish state within Turkiye. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the conflict intensified, with the PKK engaging in guerrilla warfare and the Turkish military conducting large-scale operations against PKK bases, particularly in southeastern Turkiye and northern Iraq.

The early 2000s saw intermittent ceasefires and attempts at peace negotiations, including a notable peace process in 2013. However, this process collapsed in 2015, leading to renewed hostilities.

PKK is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union and recently a “banned” organization in Iraq.