As Turkey’s extensive assault on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq continues, the civilian death toll continues to rise. Yesterday, 4 September, a Turkish drone strike claimed the lives of three family members in Khalakan (Xelekan).
Kamran Osman, head of the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), reported at a news conference that a Turkish military drone airstrike on a civilian vehicle along the Khalakan road near Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) in Iraqi Kurdistan resulted in the deaths of a father and his two children.
Sirvan Sarhad, a local resident, reported in an interview with Channel 8 that it was a targeted attack on the car, and confirmed that the children were aged 12 and 16.
In response to this attack, the Goran Movement (Bizutnewey Goran) issued a statement condemning the killings and calling for national unity to address the escalating threats against the people.
The Freedom Movement (Tevgeri Azadi) also issued a statement of condemnation and called for immediate action against the Turkish state’s relentless violence toward Kurds. They stressed that silence in the wake of such brutal massacres is intolerable, urging organised resistance to counter both external aggression and internal betrayal.
Yesterday’s attack marks the second airstrike on civilian vehicles in Iraqi Kurdistan within the past 10 days. In an earlier attack, two Kurdish journalists, Gulîstan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn, were killed.
According to recent statistics, 17 civilians have been killed and 17 others injured since the beginning of the year due to the ongoing Turkish military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan.
