BAGHDAD, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A suspected Turkish airstrike killed a member of the Peshmerga, the military of the Kurdistan Regional Government, near Sidakan town in the northern Iraqi province of Erbil, a local official said on Friday.
The mayor of Sidakan, Ihsan Chalabi, said that the attack took place on Thursday night, targeting the victim's car in a mountainous area near the town.
Medical personnel in Erbil confirmed that the Peshmerga member had sustained severe injuries from the airstrike and succumbed to his wounds while being transferred to Sidakan Hospital on Friday morning.
Located near the border with Türkiye, this area is subject to frequent Turkish aerial operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which maintains bases in the northern Iraqi mountains, especially around the Qandil range. The PKK, which has been engaged in a long-standing insurgency against Ankara, is listed as a terrorist group by Türkiye, the U.S., and the EU.
In a separate incident in Sulaimaniyah province, a former high-ranking official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) narrowly escaped harm when a magnetic bomb attached to his vehicle detonated at noon on Friday in the provincial capital, also named Sulaimaniyah. The explosion, which occurred as the official was exiting his car, injured a bystander and destroyed the vehicle, according to a Kurdish security source who wished to remain anonymous.
Security forces have launched an investigation into the blast, the source added. ■
