Over 200 PKK-Affiliated Fighters Surrender to Iraqi Forces in Sinjar: Report

More than 200 fighters of the armed groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have surrendered to the Iraqi Army over the past two days in Sinjar, a report said on Tuesday.

A local source familiar with the developments in the Yezidi region told Kurdistan 24 that the surrendered fighters mainly belong to the Ezidkhan security forces and the Sinjar Resistance Unit (YBS), both of which are affiliated with the PKK.

It comes amid a rapid escalation in Sinjar where the Iraqi Army and the PKK-affiliated fighters repeatedly clashed in the past few days, with at least one Iraqi soldier killed and several others injured so far.

Baghdad constantly deploys reinforcement and it has threatened to resort to more military action if the armed groups outside the control of the state do not leave the region.

On Monday alone, 648 Yezidi families were displaced from Sinjar and its surrounding areas. Authorities in Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province said the families were received and provided with basics at their arrival.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has ordered the local administration in Duhok to provide every facilitation for the families who had recently returned to their homes and are once again displaced.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has expressed deep concern over the violence in Sinjar, saying that the safety and security of its Yezidi population “should be front and center”.

“They've suffered enormously in the past and deserve peace under state authority. Domestic and external spoilers have no place in Sinjar,” UNAMI said in a statement.

Source: K24 site

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