Turkish incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan have become a matter of course in the last two years, and in April Turkey launched a fresh operation with the objective of occupying large areas along the border. Now, however, Turkey has conducted airstrikes in the Penjwen and Sharbazher districts of Sulaymaniyah province, some 240 miles from the Turkish border, Roj News reports.
The airstrikes on 24 August caused substantial damage to farmlands, but no casualties were reported.
The area targeted in Penjwen was close to a lorry park.
One field was left with a seven-metre-deep bomb-crater.
The people living in the area reacted angrily to the airstrikes, one villager saying that a bomb had landed just 100 metres from his house.
Civilian areas were again targeted in the district of Sharbazher.
Airstrikes on the villages of Rengîn and Şêxıl Marênî caused damage to houses.
Villagers speaking to Roj News said that at least twelve farmers had been in the fields in the area, and that they had barely escaped when the bombing started.
Zanko Xefur, a local farmer, said that they were being forced to move away from their land because of the airstrikes, and a villager by the name of Serbest Hisên said that at least four fighter jets had been involved in the airstrikes against his village.
“They carry out these airstrikes to terrorise the people,” one of them said.
Zana Ebdulrehman, the district administrator in Penjwen, said that the farmers had suffered substantial losses due to the airstrikes.
He called on the Kurdistan Regional Government to respond to the Turkish attacks.