PEREGRAF
The authorities at Makhmour refugee camp said on Wednesday (February 2) that two members of the camp’s security forces had been killed and dozens of civilians wounded in Turkish airstrikes on Tuesday night, which also targeted areas of Sinjar and northeastern Syria.
In a statement, the authorities said that the strikes on the camp south of Erbil by the “Turkish invading state” were “an unjust and immoral way to cover up its attacks against the guerrillas."
"Two members of the Jawhari Protection Force were martyred in last night's attack and civilians who wanted to help their relatives were targeted, injuring dozens of camp residents," the statement said.
"The injured are currently under control and are receiving medical treatment," it continued, adding that the identities of those killed would be formally released at a later date.
The two dead fighters were buried in a public funeral on Wednesday afternoon.
The Turkish military said in its statement that it had targeted members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which operates in parts of the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq, including Makhmour and Sinjar.
Both areas have been repeatedly targeted in the past by Turkish airstrikes, which have resulted in both civilians and fighters being killed.
"Based on the inheritance that our martyrs have left us, we will make our revolution bigger," the camp’s security forces vowed in a statement.
They called on all four parts of Kurdistan and the "liberal nations of the world" to take a stand against "attacks by the Turkish fascist state and to spill into the field."
In contrast, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) blamed the airstrikes on the “illegal” presence of the PKK in the area.
Jotiar Adil, a KRG spokesperson, in a press conference, said that “the PKK forces do not acknowledge the entity, authority, and government of the Kurdistan Region, nor do they acknowledge anyone at all."
"The aim of the PKK is to weaken the Kurdistan Region," Adil said, additionally alleging that the PKK had joined with other forces opposed to the KRG, which was a reference to the Hashd al-Shaabi.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which controls the Erbil governorate, has close economic, political, and security ties with Turkey, while tensions with the PKK have increased over the past several years.