At least three civilians killed by Turkish air strike in Nohadra (Duhok) in northern Iraq

NOHADRA (DUHOK), Iraq — Only days after Turkey killed three Iraqi border guards in a drone strike northeast of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Turkish air strikes have claimed the lives of more civilians.

On Thursday evening, a Turkish drone targeted a car in the village of Rashanki near Zawita mountain in Nohadra (Duhok), killing all occupants.

“It was the Turkish Air Force that carried out the air strike,” said Zawita district director Musher Bashir, adding that preliminary information indicates that four people were inside the car. No identifications have yet been made.

The Turkish military operations have been widely criticized by Iraq and members of the international community.

In a statement issued following the Turkish strike that killed the three border guards, including two senior officers, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the Turkish operations within its territory.

A planned visit by the Turkish Foreign Minister to Baghdad was cancelled in response to the air strike.

Turkey has been conducting extensive military operations inside Iraqi territory since mid-June. Supposedly targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in armed conflict with the Turkish state since the 1980s, Turkish air strikes have been targeting areas far outside territory considered to have a significant PKK presence.

Human Rights Watch has criticized Turkey for the carelessness of its military operation which has killed over a dozen civilians and displaced thousands more, many of whom are Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian Christians and Yezidis.