A Turkish drone targeted Sire Mountain in the Akre Kurdistan Region of Iraq on Tuesday, killing two civilians. According to the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), the attack took place at 6.45 pm local time while the victims were harvesting sumac on the mountain with two other villagers.
The victims, identified as Arif Taha (61) and Bashir Omer (68), were reportedly both retired members of the Peshmerga, the region’s security forces.
The deceased were accompanied by two friends, Roj News reported, citing local sources, although officials from Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have yet to issue a statement on the status of the other two villagers.
CPT, a violence reduction and human rights organisation in Iraq, condemned the attack, highlighting ongoing violence plaguing the region since 2015.
According to official figures, Turkey’s intensified cross-border military operations in northern Iraq have killed at least 152 civilians and injured 228 since 2015. The violence has also led to the evacuation of 158 villages, with nearly 600 more at risk of being abandoned.
The CPT’s statement strongly criticises the targeting of civilians and the displacement of the indigenous population, highlighting the role of military operations in instilling fear among civilians and disrupting agricultural activities.
Turkey’s ongoing operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas in northern Iraq, known as Operation Claw Lock, began in April 2022. In October 2023, the Turkish parliament passed a bill extending the authorisation for cross-border operations into Iraq and Syria for another two years.
Ankara has maintained numerous military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan over the past 25 years in its long-running conflict with the PKK.