Turkish warplanes killed more than two dozen Kurdish fighters yesterday in strikes in Syria and Iraq, where the Kurds are key players in the battle against the Islamic State group.
Turkey said it had carried out the strikes in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq against “terrorist havens” and vowed to continue action against groups it links to the outlawed Kurdistan’s Workers’ Party (PKK).
In northeastern Syria strikes targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — who are leading the offensive against IS stronghold Raqqa — were reported to have killed 20 fighters.
In northern Iraq they killed six peshmerga fighters from the autonomous Kurdish government, usually allied with Ankara, in an apparent accident.
The peshmerga said the strike was “unacceptable” but blamed PKK-affiliated militia fighters who it said were the targets.
The strikes underlined the complexities of the battlefields in Iraq and Syria, where twin US-backed offensives are seeking to dislodge IS militants from their last major urban strongholds.
They could also exacerbate tensions between Ankara and its Nato ally Washington, which is leading an anti-IS coalition carrying out air strikes in Syria and Iraq and sees the Kurds as one of the most effective fighting forces against IS.
Turkey’s army said it launched the strikes “in order to destroy terrorist havens targeting our country”.
“The operations will continue to be carried out from now with the same determination until the very last terrorist is neutralised,” it said.
The bombardment near the city of Al-Malikiyah in northeastern Syria saw Turkish jets carry out “dozens of simultaneous air strikes” on YPG positions overnight, including a media centre, a monitoring group said.
The strikes killed three media officers and 15 YPG fighters, one of the highest death tolls from Turkish air raids on Kurdish militia, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
YPG spokesman Redur Khalil said 20 YPG fighters were killed and 18 wounded, with three in critical condition.
Two civilians were also injured.
An AFP journalist at the site of the strikes saw collapsed buildings and rescuers searching through the rubble.
Representatives of the US-led coalition visited the site of the air strikes, the YPG’s political arm, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said on Twitter.
An officer wearing a patch bearing a US flag on his chest was seen at the site with YPG fighters. A YPG commander urged the coalition to act to prevent further Turkish attacks.
“It’s unthinkable that we are fighting on a front as important as Raqqa while Turkish planes bomb us in the back,” the commander said.
Ankara has bombed the YPG across swathes of northern Syria for months, calling it a “terrorist” group because of its ties to the PKK, which has been waging a deadly insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. While the air raids on Syria appeared to hit their intended targets, the bombardment in Iraq instead killed members of Kurdish security forces that are typically allied with Ankara.
The peshmerga ministry in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish government said the Turkish raids killed five of its fighters and one intelligence officer.
Turkey appeared to have been targeting a minority Yazidi militia allied with the PKK and based in the northwestern region of Sinjar.
The peshmerga denounced the strike as “unacceptable” but focused blame on PKK-affiliated groups.
“These problems and tensions are all because of the PKK’s presence,” it said, accusing the PKK and its affiliates of refusing to withdraw from the Sinjar area. The peshmerga have been instrumental in the battle against IS in northern Iraq though have stepped back in recent weeks as Iraqi forces advance against IS in Mosul.
Iraqi forces yesterday announced they had retaken full control of Tenek, one of the largest neighbourhoods in west Mosul.
The eastern side of the city was recaptured in January and a push on the western half launched the following month has made steady progress despite fierce resistance.
IS is facing multiple offensives across Syria and Iraq — often led by governments or forces that are otherwise bitterly opposed to each other.
Fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdish police, known as the Asayish, visit the site of Turkish air strikes near northeastern Syrian Kurdish town of Derik, yesterday.
