Turkish drone attack in Shengal – UPDATE

A civilian vehicle on the Serdeşt plateau in the Shengal mountains has been bombed by an unmanned Turkish drone.

Another drone attack has taken place in the Yazidi settlement area of Shengal in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). According to available information, a civilian vehicle in the vicinity of the Şehîd Nazê camp on the Serdeşt plateau in the Shengal mountains was bombed by an unmanned Turkish drone. There were no fatalities or injuries, and the vehicle sustained only minor property damage. Reconnaissance flights continue to take place over the region.

The Serdeşt camp has been attacked by the Turkish air force before. The plateau was a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people when the "Islamic State" carried out genocide and femicide in Shengal in August 2014. Serdeşt was initially defended by only eight PKK fighters.

The Turkish state has targeted Shengal with armed UAVs several times in the past. In January 2020, one such attack killed four YBŞ fighters, including Zerdeşt Şengalî, the commander of Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) at the time. Yazidi politician Zekî Şengalî, a member of the Shengal Yezidi Coordination and the KCK Executive Council, was killed by a Turkish drone on August 15, 2018. The attack on the Yazidi Kurd's vehicle occurred on his way back from a commemoration ceremony in the village of Kocho. The village had been almost completely wiped out by ISIS on August 15, 2014.