Nov 12, 2012

Iranian Kurdistan: Dramatic Killings By Air-strike


In the latest air strikes in the Kurdistan Region, 2 Kurdish civilians were killed in the district of Pishdar last week and 2 others were injured.

Below is an article published by Rudwa:

 

In the latest air strikes by Turkish warplanes, 2 Kurdish civilians were killed in the district of Pishdar last week and 2 others were injured.

The two victims aged 19 and 45, were Iranian Kurds who had come to the Kurdistan Region on business trips.

Abubakir Khidr, a Kurdish man injured in an airstrike in Besta village, told Rudaw, “We were sleeping during the strike and when we woke up we were covered in blood. Two men died right away and we were injured. The other man with me ended up losing a leg.”     

The Turkish fighter jets have often bombed the Qandil Mountains and Turkish authorities claim that it is to destroy rebel bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

But Said Hussein Ali, the head of Besta village said that many of the bombs target villages and kill innocent people.

“The Turkish planes targeted a small shop where Iranian and Iraqi Kurds have conducted business for years,” he said.

Ali said that the Turkish bombardment has made the area too dangerous for its residents and for business.

“The airstrike has caused instability in the area,” he said.

Ali told Rudaw that the families of the two victims have taken the bodies back to Iranian.

An official from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), a Kurdish rebel group fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran for Kurdish rights told Rudaw that members of his group were not present in the areas targeted by the Turkish jets.

“The PJAK and the PKK fighters were never at the targeted area as it is a populated area,” said the official who wished to remain anonymous.

According to Abdulrazaq Amin, the mayor of Sangasar, “In the past year alone more than 12 civilians have been killed and many others severely injured in Turkish and Iranian strikes.” 

Ibrahim Muhedin, the director of the Martyrs and Anfal affairs office in Qaladize, says that his office has provided salary for families affected by the air attacks.

Muhedin added however, that the government has not provided housing or plots of land to villagers who have fled their villages in the past year under these airstrikes.