Four killed in KRI in Turkish drone strike, AANES official among fatalities

A Turkish drone strike killed four people travelling in a vehicle in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the Associated Press reported on Friday.

The counter-terrorism service of the KRI said in a statement that the vehicle was hit in the town of Kalar in the northern province of Sulaymaniyah, and also that a fifth passenger was wounded, claiming that the passengers were militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group in Turkey.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said in its statement, however, that a deputy co-chair of the Executive Council of the AANES was among the fatalities.

It said:

“Farhad Sibli, deputy co-chair of the Executive Council of the AANES, was martyred in the civilian vehicle targeted by the Turkish forces. He was visiting Sulaymaniyah for medical treatment and to hold meetings.”

Turkey’s latest incursion into the KRI has been ongoing since 18 April, but its aerial attacks are not restricted to areas close to the Turkish border. As in the most recent attack, where Kalar is hundreds of kilometres from the border, five people were also killed in May in a Turkish drone strike in the town of Chamchamal, also in the province of Sulaymaniyah.