SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A local official said on Tuesday the areas bombed by Turkish warplanes in Penjwen district east of Sulaimani were agricultural fields.
Turkish warplanes bombed several areas in Penjwen district, 88 kilometers east of Sulaimani, early on Tuesday. The airstrikes caused no casualties, but only damages, according to officials.
The Turkish defense ministry said more than 20 aircraft destroyed 28 targets in the Asos region in northern Iraq.
Mayor of Penjwen Zana Rahman told reporters that the airstrikes carried out by drones and warplanes targeted a number of villages in the district at 06:20 a.m. and continued for 30 minutes.
The areas that were targeted were agricultural fields, he said.
“It was an inhuman and immoral act against the Kurdistan Region and our area,” he added.
“It has caused fears and hesitation among villagers and people in the district,” he noted, hoping the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would be “serious” in halting the attacks.
“Except for residents of our district, there are no other people in the areas bombarded,” he said.
Turkey has intensified air and ground operations in the Kurdistan Region, targeting what it says positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Late on Monday, a Turkish helicopter opened fire at several positions in Amedi district.
On August 17, a Turkish drone targeted a clinic in the village of Sekaina in Sinjar district, killing eight people and wounding four others.
The strikes came one day after a Turkish drone bombed a vehicle in Sinjar, killing three Yazidi fighters including a local chief of the Popular Mobilization forces.
On August 13, a Turkish airstrike killed a 50-year-old man in Disheshe village in Kani Mase sub-district, northeast of Duhok.
Iraq regularly decries violations of its sovereignty, and has repeatedly summoned the Turkish ambassador over Ankara’s cross-border military campaign.
But Iraq, which counts on Turkey as an important commercial partner, has refrained from taking punitive measures.
The Turkish offensive in the Kurdistan Region – particularly aerial bombing – has prompted hundreds of villagers to flee their homes.
