Turkey targets hospital in Shengal with consecutive air strikes

UPDATE: Death toll in Turkish airstrikes on hospital in Shengal (Sinjar) rises to 8

SHENGAL, Iraq — A day after the Turkish assassination of Yezidi politician and Shengal Resistance Unit (Yekîneyên Berxwedana Şengalê, YBŞ) official Saeed Hasan Saeed, Turkey has again targeted Yezidis in Shengal (Sinjar) in Iraq.

In the early afternoon on Tuesday, Turkish aircraft targeted a hospital in the village of Sikêniyê on the southern side of the Shengal mountain range.

A witness told Rudaw that the hospital was hit with three successive strikes, with a fourth strike 15 minutes later. Local doctors confirmed the witness’s account.

Ji gundê Sikêniyê…
Dîsa qêrîna dayîkeke kezebşewitî. pic.twitter.com/CuZnMwQ7gl

— Selman Aslan (@asselman27) August 17, 2021

Both attacks come as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visits Shengal and its surrounding villages. He is the first Prime Minister to visit Shengal in the post-Saddam era.

New details have also emerged about the killing of Saeed.

According to former director of humanitarian organization Yazda Matthew Barber, Saeed was on his was to meet PM al-Kadhimi when his vehicle was targeted. He was contacted by Iraqi Army officials two days prior and asked to attend a meeting with PM al-Kadhimi. They called him again the day of the assassination.

9) Update: I have learned that Saeed Hasan Saeed was on his way to meet with the PM. He had been contacted by the Iraqi army two days ago and asked to attend a meeting. They called him again today ahead of the meeting.

— Matthew Travis Barber (@Matthew__Barber) August 16, 2021

The Turkish attacks come just days after the seventh anniversary of the Kocho Massacre. On 15 August 2014, the Islamic State killed an estimated 600 Yezidi men and boys who refused to convert to Islam, beheading many and burying them — some still alive — mass graves. Over 1,000 Yezidi women and children from Kocho were enslaved.