- Local officials said the strikes targeted militants in northern Iraq’s Yazidi heartland of Sinjar and blamed the strikes on Turkey.
- The Kurdish semi-autonomous region’s counter-terrorism bureau said in a statement that three militants were killed and one injured in the attack.
- But a militia-affiliated town councilor denied there were any casualties and said one civilian was slightly injured in the attack.
A militant group carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq’s Yazidi heartland of Sinjar on Tuesday, according to local officials, who said the strikes were carried out by Turkey.
Officials gave conflicting reports on the number of casualties. The Kurdish semi-autonomous region’s counter-terrorism bureau said in a statement that three militants were killed and one wounded in the attack. But paramilitary-affiliated town councilor Ali Hamed denied there were any casualties and said one civilian was slightly injured in the attack.
Around noon in Sinjar district, a drone strike hit a house frequently used by the leader of the Singhal Resistance Force (YBS), Hamed said.
The group, composed mainly of minority Yazidis, helped drive Islamic State militants out of the region after the collapse of the Iraqi army and the withdrawal of the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional forces in 2014.
YBS has been targeted by Turkey in recent years for its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a separatist movement banned in Turkey and active in northern Iraq.
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A Turkish defense ministry spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Continuing violence has hampered the difficult efforts of returning Yazidis to their ancestral homelands after years of violence and forced displacement.
According to Kurdish officials, violent clashes between Yazidi militias and Iraqi forces in densely populated areas of war-torn districts last year forced up to 10,000 people from the area, many of them They were people returning from evacuation.
The YBS was established in 2014 with the support of the PKK in response to IS’s seizure of Sinjar. At this time, about 10,000 Yazidis were killed and captured, and the United Nations recognized it as a genocide. there is
“Whether they hit us today with one, 10 or 100 missiles, we will continue to return to our land, our homes and our property,” Hamed said.
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Tensions remain high between the labyrinthine security forces in Sinjar. A power-sharing agreement signed by the United Nations in October 2020 between Baghdad and the Kurdish-run government, in which the federal police are the sole state power, has not taken hold.