‘Deaths, injuries’ as Turkish airstrike hits Iraq clinic

A Turkish airstrike hit a clinic in northern Iraq on Tuesday, resulting in fatalities and injuries, local officials and an Iraqi military officer said.

The raid “totally destroyed” a clinic located in Sinjar, the district’s deputy mayor Jalal Khalef Bisso told AFP.

He said that there were “deaths and injuries,” but did not provide an immediate toll.

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The raid consisted of three drone strikes, another official said.

A senior Iraqi army officer told AFP that Tuesday’s raid was carried out by Turkey’s military.

Turkey regularly conducts operations in northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), where the latter’s fighters maintain bases in mountainous areas.

Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization.

An airstrike on Monday by Turkey targeted and killed a senior Yazidi official of an Iraqi force linked to the PKK in Sinjar, along with two of his colleagues.

Monday’s raid had also wounded a PKK official, a member of the Yazidi minority.

He was transferred for care to a clinic in the village of Sekaina, a facility that was hit Tuesday at around midday, according to a Yazidi militant reached by AFP.

Images shared online by purported residents showed a basement and a makeshift clinic reduced to rubble and black smoke rising into the air.

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