Three civilians have been killed when Turkish fighter jets bombarded Duhok province in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, a report says.
“The Turkish aerial bombing that targeted the border area of Saidan of Amadiya city in Duhok province, left three civilians dead” on Wednesday, Iraq’s al-Sumaria news website quoted a media official in the province as saying. Mahmoud Nahily said an unspecified number of people were also injured.
Eyewitnesses had earlier said Turkish warplanes attacked border areas north of the province.
Turkish forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against the positions of the the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region for nearly two years.
The campaign began following the July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.
The PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.
The militants have been waging a bloody campaign in southeastern Turkey for decades, which has left more than 40,000 people dead.