News / Iraq

Five PKK-affiliated militiamen killed as unknown aircraft strikes northern Iraq

Wednesday, 15 January 2020 4:30 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 15 January 2020 4:37 PM ]

This file picture shows fighters from the Şengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) during a military training in an unidentified area in northern Iraq. (File photo)

At least five members of an Izadi militia group affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group have been killed when an unidentified aircraft struck their vehicle in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh.

The media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a brief statement that the aircraft conducted an airstrike at 11:35 a.m. local time (0835 GMT) on a vehicle belonging to the Sinjar Protection Units (YBS), also known as Shingal (Sinjar) Resistance Units, in Hitteen area near the town of al-Shimal, which is also known as Sunony and is located some 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Iraq's northern city of Mosul.

A security source from the Nineveh Operations Command, speaking on condition of anonymity, later told Arab-language Mawazin news agency that YBS commander, Zardosht Shingali, had been killed in the strike, noting that Turkish fighter jets were involved in the attack.

Back on November 20 last year, an unknown aircraft bombarded the YBS headquarters in Khanna Sour district near the Kurdish-populated town of Sinjar.

Unknown aircraft bombs headquarters of Yazidi militiamen in northern Iraq

At least 20 Izadi YBS have been killed when an unidentified aircraft bombarded their headquarters in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh.

The JOC said in a statement at the time that the aerial assault completely destroyed the command center, leaving 20 YBS members dead and injured.

The YBS, formerly called King Peacock, is an Izadi militia group formed in Iraq in 2007 to protect the Izadi community in Iraq in the wake of attacks by Takfiri terrorists.

It is the second largest Izadi militia group, after the Êzîdxan Protection Force (HPÊ). However, it is much more active than the HPÊ in fighting against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

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