Casualties in Turkish drone attack on Iraq’s Sinjar
ERBIL, KRI, Iraq (North Press) – On Wednesday, a Turkish drone targeted the town of Snuny in the Yezidi-majority district of Sinjar (Shingal), northern Iraq, casualties were reported.
An eyewitness told North Press that a Turkish drone targeted the People’s Assembly building in Snuny district, around 11:00 am.
One individual was killed and two others were wounded, according to the eyewitness.
Sinjar is run by an autonomous administration affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as Turkey claims. The area has its own military body called Shingal Protection Units (YBS in Kurdish).
The YBS was formed in 2014 to drive out ISIS members from the area after the collapse of the Iraqi army. Since then, it has remained a powerful local force in the area. After that, an autonomous administration was formed to run the affairs of the area.
The attack caused material losses and damage to the targeted building and a number of shops in its vicinity, the eyewitness added.
Members of the security forces and dozens of residents of the area were deployed in the vicinity of the targeted place, while bulldozers began removing the rubble of the destroyed buildings and shops.
The security authorities are expected to issue a statement regarding the incident.
This is an initial outcome as it is possible that there are people under the rubble, the eyewitness noted.
Turkey launch frequent attacks on the northern areas of the Kurdistan region, as well as it launches from time to time air attacks in Iraq, most of which are concentrated in the areas of Shingal and Makhmur camp in Nineveh Governorate.
On May 1, Sinjar District witnessed tension on the back of the deployment of Iraqi military units in different areas especially in the vicinity of Snuny, north of Sinjar Mountain.
The aim of deploying Iraqi military units was to impose military control over the area, remove barriers set up by the YBS, and remove the armed groups, according to a security agreement signed between Baghdad and Erbil in 2020.
Residents of the Yezidi majority Sinjar region, which is located on border with Syria, went through disastrous massacres at hands of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) in 2014.