A Turkish drone targeted a vehicle of the local security forces, the Sinjar (Shengal) Resistance Units (YBŞ), in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing an administrator and a guard, both of the YBŞ.
The General Command of the YBŞ announced that Şêrzad Şemo Kasım from the YBŞ administration and an accompanying guard lost their lives in the attack that took place around 11.30am local time, and said that they knew that the attack had been carried out by Turkey in cooperation with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
This was the second deadly attack by Turkish forces against the YBŞ, also known as the Yazidi Asayish (Yazidi Public Order Force), in a week. Three Yazidi fighters were also killed in the previous drone attack on Monday.
Turkey regularly carries out attacks against alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraqi territories, including the Yazidi town of Sinjar. The town is run by an autonomous administration and the YBŞ was formed in 2014 to drive out the Islamic State (ISIS) from the area. The Yazidi community living in the town suffered enormously at the time at the hands of the jihadi group.
Yazidis have become a target in Turkey’s military operations due to their affiliation with the PKK, who helped many members of the community escape the attacks, PKK militants staying on to defend a humanitarian corridor out of Sinjar when the KDP and other Iraqi forces fled, abandoning the region to ISIS takeover. The PKK also helped Yazidis form their own defence forces, the YPŞ and the Yazidian Women’s Units (YJÊ).
The ISIS attacks against Yazidis were carried out in the Sinjar region in 2014. ISIS overran the Yazidi land, forcing young women into sexual and domestic servitude for ISIS fighters, massacring thousands of people and displacing Yazidis in the area. ISIS was eventually removed from the region on 13 November 2015.
The PKK is currently holding fire against the Turkish troops, in compliance with Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council co-chair Cemil Bayık’s call on 9 February for a ceasefire, due to the devastating twin earthquakes that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria three days earlier. However there is no indication of any reduction in aggression from the Turkish side.
