[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish airstrikes hit a village in the Pishdar district of Sulaimani province on Tuesday, causing material damage but no casualties, Pishdar’s mayor has told Rudaw."The Turkish warplanes bombed a location in the village of Shene near the [Iranian] border," mayor Bakir Bayiz told Rudaw on Tuesday afternoon.
"Fortunately, the bombing did not result in any casualties," Bayiz said. "Only a small number of households were damaged."
Shortly after the attack, Turkey’s defense ministry said it had “neutralized” 10 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in the Qandil region of “the north of Iraq”.
Bakir Waisi, another local administrative official, said that the bombing by "Turkish warplanes” has "sparked fear among the villagers, and people have taken shelter in their houses."
The PKK – which Turkey regards as a terrorist organization - is a Kurdish armed group that has fought the Turkish state for increased rights for the country’s Kurdish minority. Its headquarters are in the Kurdistan Region's Qandil mountains.
Turkey launched a large-scale air and ground operation in the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq’s disputed territories in mid-June said to target the PKK. At least eight civilians were killed in the airstrikes.
The ground operation was “successfully completed” in September but the air campaign continues.
Turkey bombed at least three areas in the Kurdistan Region on January 22, injuring two children and killing hundreds of sheep.