Iraq: 3 Yazidi militiamen killed in Turkish airstrike

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By  India Blooms News Service   May 17, 2023

Baghdad: Three Yazidi militiamen affiliated with the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed and a fourth wounded on Tuesday in a Turkish airstrike in Iraqs northern province of Nineveh, the Counter-Terrorism Service of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said in a statement.

Around midday local time (0900 GMT), a Turkish aircraft bombarded the headquarters of a Yazidi militia, known as the Sinjar Protection Units (YBS), near the town of Sinjar, some 120 km west of Ninevehs provincial capital Mosul, killing three militiamen and wounding another, said the statement.

The YBS is a Yazidi militia formed in Iraq in 2007 to protect the Yazidi community in Iraq. The group has strong links to the PKK group.

PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Trkiye, the United States, and the European Union, and the Turkish forces frequently carry out ground operations, airstrikes, and artillery bombardments against its positions in northern Iraq, especially the Qandil Mountains, the main base of the PKK.

(With UNI inputs)