Turkey announced the launch of the new operation, called “Operation Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt”, on 23 April. The new military campaign targets the Metîna, Avashin and Zap regions, MA reports.
Escalating clashes are taking place between the Turkish armed forces and the Peoples’ Defence Forces (HPG), known as the armed-wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to MA, the source of the bombs are the border police stations in Turkey located in Şırnak’s (Şirnex) Uludere (Roboski) district and Hakkari’s (Colemerg) Çukurca (Çelê) district.
Local sources say that the region is still under air bombardment.
The people of Behdînan have become the target of the attacks as well. Civilians living in the region who refused to leave their animals said that their gardens and fields have been burned down and some of their animals were killed in the bombing.
It was reported that some villagers walked to the nearby military point and castigated the Turkish soldiers. A TSK commander, who opened fire in the air to disperse the Kurdish villagers, said, ”We already have dozens of martyrs and wounded. Are we going to think of your fields, gardens, and animals that perished? Go away, we know what to do.”
According to the local sources, many soldiers were killed in the clashes. In particular, the areas of Çemço, Sida, Werxelê and Kunişka in the Zap region and Geliyê Basya, Tepê Sor, Mervanos, Aris-Faris and Shuke areas of the Avashin region have been bombarded with both Skorsky helicopters and land howitzers, mortars and skaters. It was reported that the civilians who stayed in the region and their vineyards, gardens and animals were targeted.
According to the local sources, the TSK’s Gare Operation mobile hospitals were established in the Bamernê Logistics and Airport Military Base in the Behdinan region and Qimrê military bases in Berwari. The sources in the region stated that many soldiers lost their lives, and many were injured and undergoing treatment in these mobile hospitals.
