On 5 June, there was an attack from the air against peshmerga forces who had been transferred to the Metîna area in the of Federal Region of Kurdistan. Five peshmergas lost their lives and four were wounded.
In the first bulletins, media organs attached to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) initially reported the incident as an “air strike,” and shortly afterwards blamed the People’s Defence Forces (HPG) for the attack.
The HPG’s press office, however, stated that their own forces had not carried out the attack and called for an inquiry by an independent body.
Statements were made from various quarters about the attack in question. But according to experts, images of the armoured cars which had been targeted indicated that the attack had been from the air.
A statement supporting the claims that the attack had come from the air came from Qadir Xoranî, a commander within the structure of the Peshmerga Secretariat. According to Roj News, Xoranî, a long-serving peshmerga commander experienced in the military field, shared a post on its virtual media page on Facebook.
Qadir Xoranî gave a three-point evaluation of the explosion as follows:
- “I myself have been in armoured cars. The armoured cars in question are very solid and strong.”
- “There are no marks of guerrilla bullets at all on the vehicles. If it had been done by rockets, they would have had to hit the target on all four sides or at least the wheels would have fallen apart.”
- “According to the peshmergas who escaped with injuries, there was no clash. They say that the vehicle was attacked from the air. It is also clear from the photographs that the vehicles were bombed either from an F-16 fighter or an armed unmanned aircraft.”
Qadir Xoranî emphasised that the attack had come from a “terrorist force” in possession of an F-16 or a drone.
At the end of his post Qadir Xoranî said: “In my opinion, this terrorist incident was perpetrated by a terrorist force, either from an F-16 fighter or an armed unmanned aircraft, against the peshmergas of Kurdistan. There is a political objective behind this. This attack was planned and the aim was to intensify the fighting between the Kurds and to destroy the Kurdistan Region.”
The Turkish Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, issued a statement on Monday aimed at intensifying the conflicts and clashes between the Kurds, and stated that it was ready to help the KDP. The statement placed emphasis on the following: “As ever, we support our Iraqi brothers in the struggle with terrorism, respecting the integrity and sovereignty of our neighbours’ territory.”
