Turkey has continued attacks on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas, ignoring a unilateral ceasefire the group declared on 1 March, the People’s Defence Forces (HPG) announced on Sunday. According to the HPG, attacks have escalated since 20 March, primarily targeting the Zap region along the Turkish border in northern Iraq.
In its statement, the HPG said the Turkish state has continued “using banned weapons, phosphorus bombs and chemical agents and carrying out intensive bombardments” against guerrilla positions and tunnels since last autumn. The Turkish army has suffered significant losses in the strategic area of Zap over the past three years.
The HPG stated that the attacks have damaged not only guerrilla positions but also villages in the Zap region, where houses have been struck by shells and ammunition. No civilian casualties have been reported.
“Cowardice is the only explanation for the Turkish occupying army taking advantage of the situation of our forces to attack them when they are trying to change their position,” the HPG said, accusing the Turkish state of “extreme opportunism”.
The HPG press centre announced that five guerrilla fighters were killed in the escalating clashes in Zap, naming them as Abbas, Lorîn, Rawan, Özgür and Besê, but provided no further details about their identities. They also released the names of three guerrillas killed in earlier Turkish attacks, in January and February of this year.
They announced that a guerrilla unit had targeted and destroyed a Turkish tank using a kamikaze drone on the morning of 13 March in response to the attacks. This is in keeping with their earlier statements that since the unilateral ceasefire they are limiting their actions strictly to legitimate self-defence, halting all offensive operations.
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