Turkish airstrikes cause wildfires in Penjwen

PENJWEN – Turkish airstrikes sparked a wildfire on a mountain in Sulaymaniyah’s Penjwen district yesterday, consuming over 25 acres of forest and grazing land, as reported by 964media.

Adel Jalal, the head of Penjwen Forest Police, described the situation: “The fire on Kani Miran was controlled and extinguished after four hours, but the fire on Qalai Kche mountain remains uncontained. Our forest police teams and local residents are still working to put it out.”

He added that the challenging conditions due to dense grazing land and difficult terrain have made controlling the fire difficult.

Rebwar Kamal, head of the Mlakawa organization, also spoke to 964media, saying, “We managed to control the fire on Mount Nzara yesterday morning, but it reignited later.”

Kamal reported significant damage, with more than 25 acres of forest, brush, and grassland burned.

The airstrikes are part of Turkey’s ongoing operations in the Kurdistan Region, under the pretext of alleged presence of fighters belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by its Kurdish acronym PKK. Yesterday, these operations included bombings near Kani Miran and Nizara villages in Penjwen, which led to the wildfires.

In total, Turkish forces have conducted 833 airstrikes in the region from January through May 2024, according to Kamaran Mala Osman, the coordinator of the Community Peacemaker Teams-Iraqi Kurdistan. He detailed the airstrikes, noting, that Turkey carried out 833 airstrikes in various parts of the Kurdistan Region and Nineveh governorate.

These airstrikes have not resulted in civilian casualties in the last 24 hours, although eight civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year due to similar incidents.