Turkish Strikes Kill 5 Civilians in Northern Iraq

Turkish soldiers walk to provide a combat operation in the mountains in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, bordering Iraq, November 6, 2007. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov
Turkish soldiers walk to provide a combat operation in the mountains in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, bordering Iraq, November 6, 2007. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov
TT
20

Turkish Strikes Kill 5 Civilians in Northern Iraq

Turkish soldiers walk to provide a combat operation in the mountains in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, bordering Iraq, November 6, 2007. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov
Turkish soldiers walk to provide a combat operation in the mountains in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak, bordering Iraq, November 6, 2007. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov

The civilian death toll of Turkish air raids in northern Iraq rose to five on Friday, local officials said, as Ankara kept up a cross-border offensive against Turkish Kurdish rebels.

Despite official protests from Baghdad, Turkey on Wednesday launched operation "Claw-Tiger" by land and air into the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq where the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has rear bases.

Three civilians were killed Friday when a Turkish air strike hit their cars, said Ouarchine Mayi, mayor of Chiladzi in Dohuk province, which neighbors Syria and Turkey.

Another local mayor, Serbast Sabri, said the body of a fourth civilian was also found, two days after he had gone missing.

A shepherd was killed early Thursday morning when Turkish air raids hit the Bradost district, an official from northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Ihsan Chalabi, told AFP.

Turkish special forces have landed by helicopter in Iraqi Kurdistan to flush out PKK guerrillas from hideouts in the region's remote mountains.

Turkey has sporadically bombed PKK bases in the region, but its dramatic escalation has prompted scores of families in the area to flee, according to local activists.

Neither the PKK, which Ankara brands a "terrorist" organization because of its decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, nor the Turkish military has so far reported casualties in their ranks.

Iraq's foreign ministry has summoned Turkish ambassador Fatih Yildiz twice this week, demanding Ankara withdraw its special forces and halt the bombing campaign.

But Yildiz has been defiant, telling Iraqi authorities that if Baghdad did not take action against the rebels, Ankara would continue to "fight the PKK wherever it is".

Iraq even summoned Iran's envoy in response to cross-border shelling of Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Iran, which has its own Kurdish minority, has also been fighting Kurdish rebels who use Iraq as a base.

Saudi Arabia has also condemned the Turkish operations inside northern Iraq.

But there has been no direct comment from Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who is himself a Kurd and is close to top officials in the autonomous Kurdish region.

The Iraqi Kurdish regional government considers the PKK a rival group but has been unable to uproot it from its mountain hideouts.

It has, however, tolerated the presence of around 10 Turkish military bases inside its territory for the past 25 years.



At Least 29 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT
20

At Least 29 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Gaza rescuers said at least 29 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on the war-battered Palestinian territory on Wednesday.

“There were at least 25 martyrs and dozens wounded" in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, while another four people were killed in a strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday there is “no way” Israel will halt its war in Gaza even if a deal is reached to release more hostages.

In comments released by Netanyahu's office from a visit to wounded soldiers the previous day, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas.”

Any ceasefire deal reached would be temporary, the prime minister said. If Hamas were to say they would release more hostages, “we’ll take them, and then we’ll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war,” Netanyahu said. “We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we’re going to the end.”

Netanyahu's comments are likely to complicate talks on a new ceasefire that had seemed to gain momentum after Hamas released the last living American hostage on Monday in a gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.