2 PKK Members Killed, 1 Injured in Turkish Attack in Sinjar

A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
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2 PKK Members Killed, 1 Injured in Turkish Attack in Sinjar

A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily

Two members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Sunday and another was seriously injured in a Turkish attack on a car in Sinjar, west of Nineveh governorate in north Iraq.

The Counter-Terrorism Group in the Kurdistan Region reported that a Turkish drone targeted a car of PKK-linked elements, killing two militants and wounding another.

It said the attack took place in a mountainous area between the villages of Bara and Bahrava in the district of Sinjar.

Later, the Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed the killing of two PKK militants as part of operation claw-lock that Ankara launched in northern Iraq last April.

The statement said that northern Iraq and northern Syria will not be for terrorists and that the Turkish forces are determined to dry up terrorism at its source.

Türkiye launched the operation to target the PKK’s strongholds in Iraq's northern Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions, near the Turkish border.

Sinjar’s attack on Sunday comes two months after eight people were killed and 26 were injured by Turkish artillery fire on the hill village of Parakh in Zakho district.

In an unusually strong rebuke, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi warned Türkiye that Iraq reserves the "right to retaliate," calling the artillery fire a "flagrant violation" of sovereignty.

Turkish forces have perpetrated once more a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," Kadhimi said on Twitter, condemning the harm caused to "the life and security of Iraqi citizens."

A Foreign Ministry statement signaled Ankara’s willingness to do anything to uncover the truth behind the incident.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) strongly condemned the deadly artillery shelling and said in a statement that civilians are once again suffering the indiscriminate effects of explosive weapons.



US Says It’s Aware of Palestinian American Teen’s Killing by Israeli Forces in West Bank 

Mourners carry the body of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Mohammad Rabea, during his funeral at Turmus Ayya village near Ramallah , 07 April 2025. (EPA)
Mourners carry the body of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Mohammad Rabea, during his funeral at Turmus Ayya village near Ramallah , 07 April 2025. (EPA)
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US Says It’s Aware of Palestinian American Teen’s Killing by Israeli Forces in West Bank 

Mourners carry the body of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Mohammad Rabea, during his funeral at Turmus Ayya village near Ramallah , 07 April 2025. (EPA)
Mourners carry the body of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Mohammad Rabea, during his funeral at Turmus Ayya village near Ramallah , 07 April 2025. (EPA)

The US State Department said on Tuesday it was aware of the killing by Israeli forces of a Palestinian American teenager in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was seeking more information about the incident.

A State Department spokesperson made the comments to reporters when asked about the killing of US citizen Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, and the shooting of two other teenagers.

"We are certainly aware of that dynamic," the State Department spokesperson said. "There is an investigation that is going on. We are aware of the reports from the Israeli army that this was a counterterrorism act, we need to learn more about the nature of what happened on the ground."

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the weekend incident as an "extra-judicial killing" by Israeli forces during a raid. A local mayor said Rabea was shot along with two other teenagers by an Israeli settler and that the Israeli army pronounced him dead after detaining him.

The Israeli military said it shot a "terrorist" who endangered civilians by hurling rocks.

"We don't have the complete picture of what was going on the ground," the State Department spokesperson added.

The family of the teenager, who was a New Jersey native, said he was shot multiple times. Local community leaders gathered at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, New Jersey, on Tuesday to pay tribute to him and demand justice.

Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the state of Israel in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said last month.

Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids, has intensified since the start of Israel's war in Gaza that has killed over 50,000, according to Gaza's health ministry, and led to genocide and war crimes accusations that Israel denies.

The Israeli onslaught in Gaza followed a Hamas attack in October 2023 in which 1,200 were killed and about 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.