Turkish warplanes have on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes on at least eight areas in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region in the early hours of Saturday morning.
According to Russia Today, “eight villages in the Batifa subdistrict of Duhok province’s Zakho area came under intense bombardment.”
No casualties have been reported, but the bombardment created “a lot of fear” among villagers, the agency added.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry had earlier summoned the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad and handed him a note of protest over Turkish shelling in a number of areas in northern Iraq.
The Turkish airstrikes on Iraqi soil take place without permission of the Iraqi government nor an international mandate, and are as such an illegal violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
Turkey launched its current offensive in the Kurdistan Region mid-June, with the stated aim of removing PKK Kurdish separatist fighters from the border areas.
Operations have been focused on areas in Duhok province’s Zakho region, where villagers living in the mountains have borne the brunt of Turkey’s bombing. Several civilians have been killed in the strikes this year.
