Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

TI036

Incident date

May 30, 2020

Location

درلوك, Deralok, Duhok, Iraq

Geolocation

37.056989, 43.652121 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A father and son were killed and another civilian was injured after an alleged Turkish airstrike near the town of Deraluk, Amedi district, on May 30th, 2020, according to local media reports.

The victims were Jalal Nuradin, 60, and his son Ahmed Nuradin, 32, reported K24, Christian Peacemaker Teams and Ahval.

Khalil Nerway, a relative of the victims, said an additional person was injured in the strike. “We have not yet seen the wounded, but we are told that his health is stable”, Mr. Nerway told Rudaw. Jalal, a retired Peshmerga, and his son were farming ancestral land “to make ends meet for their families”, according to the source. Neither of the bodies had been returned to the family at the time of reporting due to the difficulties in accessing the site of the bombing according to Mr. Nerway.

K24, Christian Peacemaker Teams and Ahval reported that the strike took place in the village of Hetuta.

Rudaw quoted unnamed officials as saying the strike targeted “suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the Deralok sub-district of Amedi, close to the border with Turkey”. The attack took place at 09:30 am, according to Rudaw reporter Nasir Ali.

On May 30th 2020, the official Twitter account of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Turkey Tweeted: “Two PKK terrorists, who were identified by means of reconnaissance and surveillance in the Avasin region of northern Iraq, were neutralized by an air operation. Our operations will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized.”

Mohammed Salim Nerweyi, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Deralok, told Rudaw that the deceased were civilians.

“No politician has even come to talk to us and offer condolences” Ahmad Nuradeen Muhiyadeen, Jalal’s brother, told The Guardian on April 4th, 2021.

Adam Gnych, who reported on the incident, provided Airwars with a transcript of an interview with Ahmed Nuradeen Muhiyadeen, Jalal’s brother:

“When we left for the trip there were four of us – me, Jalal, Ahmed and one of our neighbours. In the evening we went and stayed in the valley (the Rashava valley). Before dawn we set off, on the other side of the mountain we split the group, Jelal, Ahmed and our neighbour went one way, I went another way. I collected some mushrooms and some grasses; in the evening I came back home to Deraluk. The others stayed there for three days. On the fourth day, when they intended to come back to Deraluk, they were targeted. My neighbour told me that he found a beehive, he told Jalal and Ahmad to wait for him and drink some tea, on his way to the beehives he heard two bombings. When he returned to the place he saw that Jalal and Ahmed had been killed along with their horses. The area is very far away and surrounded by mountains so it’s hard to get a signal (telephone)… the incident took place at 8:30 am at 10 am we were contacted and told that both of them had been killed…. Jalal was a peshmerga before he retired. He couldn’t afford to sustain his family, our economic situation was very hard. Ahmed was jobless so they were obliged to risk their lives by going to the mountains to collect grasses and mushrooms to sell in the local bazaar.”

According to Mr Muhiyadeen, Ahmad had studied until the 6th grade, at which point he was forced to leave school due to the family’s economic situation. “He was so smart and so clever, he knew as much as a teacher. He was always reading the Quran and he liked playing football with his friends… I want this conflict to stop, neither the PKK nor Turkey have any reason to be here, they are just here to ruin our lives, we hope this war stops so that no more civilians will become victims like my brother and nephew.”

According to the family, Jalal was a father of eight (six sons and two daughters), Ahmed had two wives and three children (two sons one daughter).

The incident occured at 08:30:00 local time.

The victims were named as:

Family members (2)

60 years old male Father of Ahmed Nuradin killed
32 years old male Son of Jalal Nuradin killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Deraluk (درلوك), for which the generic coordinates are: 37.056989, 43.652121. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2
  • (2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Turkish Military

Sources (6) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (7) [ collapse]

  • An image of Jalal and Ahmed Nuradin, who were killed in an alleged Turkish airstrike while they were farming their ancestral land on May 30th 2020. (Uploaded by K24)
  • The graves of Ahmed and Jalal Nuradin, who were killed in an alleged Turkish airstrike near the town of Deraluk on May 30th, 2020. (Uploaded by Christian Peacemaker Teams)
  • An image that accompanied a Rudaw article about the strike. The image ran with the caption: “Deraluk’s Linkiyan mountains, where Saturday’s airstrike took place” (Uploaded by Rudaw TV)
  • A graphic showing the location of an alleged Turkish strike that killed Ahmed and Jalal Nuradin on May 30th, 2020. (Uploaded by The Guardian)
  • A map that accompanied a Rudaw article about the strike on May 30th, 2020, which killed Ahmed and Jalal Nuradin. (Uploaded by Rudaw)
  • An image that accompanied an article about the death of Jalal and Ahmed Nuradin who died in an alleged Turkish airstrike near the town of Deraluk on May 30th 2020. (Uploaded by K24)

Turkish Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Turkish Military
  • Turkish Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Media
from belligerent (1) [ collapse]

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2
  • (2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Turkish Military

Sources (6) [ collapse]