A Turkish drone struck a vehicle on Thursday in the centre of the Sinjar (Shengal), homeland of the Yazidi people who were the victims of a massacre by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, of northern Iraq, Roj News reported.
The strike occurred at 18:20 local time, targeting a Toyota Hilux vehicle in Sinjar’s Elnisr neighbourhood, resulting in the death of a middle-aged civilian named Muhsin Shamo and wounding two others.
Turkey’s attacks in northern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan have frequently targeted civilians. On 1 November, a Turkish drone attacked the Hesin Meman shrine, a pilgrimage site, in the central of Sinjar, causing damage to the building.
Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes with warplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in northern Iraq as part of its anti-terrorism operations, targeting what officials state are fighters and positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
People’s Council of Shengal condemned the attacks in a statement on Thursday, pointing out that the attacks were planned to prevent Yazidi people from returning to their homes and to spread instability among the people of Sinjar.
Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have had to leave their land, thousands have been killed, further thousands of women and young girls were abducted by ISIS in 2014. Today the fate of 2700 abducted Yazidi women is still unknown.
People’s Council of Shengal accused the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of assisting the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) in the attacks on Sinjar and called on the Yazidi people to march and protest against Turkey’s attacks and KDP cooperation.
