At least eight people were killed, including four members of the medical staff at a hospital and four fighters of the Sinjar Resistance Units who were receiving treatment at a hospital, and four others were injured in alleged Turkish strikes on Al-Askiniyah Hospital in the village of Sakina in Sinjar district on August 17, 2021.
Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê published that “according to the statement of the Autonomous Administration Council in Sinjar, the attack resulted in the death of at least 8 people and the injury of 4 others. Among the martyrs were 4 fighters of the Sinjar Resistance Units who were receiving treatment in the hospital, in addition to the martyrdom of 4 members of the medical staff in the hospital who were serving the Yazidi community.” An image posted on Facebook shows that a baby was among those injured.
The names of those killed in the bombing are: Hamid Saadoun (Qiran Siba), a fighter of the Sinjar Resistance Units; Khader Sharaf (Bir Khader), a fighter of the Sinjar Resistance Units; Rami Al-Salem (Ronny), a fighter of the Sinjar Resistance Units, from the Arab component of the people of the Ba’aj region; Maytum Khader Khalaf (Sarhad Zammar), a fighter of the Sinjar Resistance Units; Ali Rasho Khader, from the medical staff; Saadu Elias Rasho, from the medical staff; Hajji Khader, from the medical staff; Mukhlisat Sidar, from the medical staff.
A report from the PKK identified Mukhlisat Sidar as being a doctor in the medical facility and added that he “had come to Sinjar in 2014 as a medical volunteer from North Kurdistan (southeast Turkey) to help provide medical treatment for the local population during the IS attacks.”
An activist from Singer told Independent Arabia that “today’s operation came to complete the attack launched by Turkish planes yesterday in Sinjar, which killed three people from the Sinjar Protection Units and wounded two others.” The activist added that the two wounded, one of whom is a leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, were taken to this hospital for treatment.
A statement from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) pointed out that the initial strike was against “an Ezidi diplomatic delegation on its way to a meeting with Iraqi government officials on August 16”. The reported added that “five members of a diplomatic delegation representing our Democratic Autonomous Council of Sinjar (MXDŞ) were targeted by a Turkish air strike while driving through the center of Sinjar city. Two members of the delegation, Seîd Hesen and Îsa Xwedêda, were killed in the attack while Medya Qasim Simo, Şamir Abbas Berces and Mîrza Alî were wounded.”
An Iraqi security source told Al-Ain News that “Turkish warplanes bombed this afternoon the military hospital of the Sinjar Protection Forces, which is located in the village of Al-Sakina, south of the district, in Nineveh Governorate. The Turkish aircraft deliberately targeted the building and made any attempts to evacuate those sleeping in it.”
According to the PKK report, the hospital that was bombed had been treating many civilian patients, including COVID patients, at the time of the attack and that “the hospital in the village of Sikêniyê – a former school building – had been established in 2016 after the liberation of the village by the Kurdish guerrilla and YBŞ/YJŞ forces. Ever since, it had been run solely with the resources provided by the local population and the MXDŞ. It had been used both by the civilian population of Sinjar and members of the YBŞ/YJŞ”.
“The hospital was subjected to three raids with drones that destroyed the entire building,” said Jalal Khalaf Basso, deputy mayor of Sinjar, to Agence France-Presse. A report from the PKK recalled that “after the first air strike had hit the hospital and had wounded several people, civilians and Iraqi soldiers from a nearby military base who were rushing to the scene to help were targeted by three more air strikes.”. All of the sources that reported on the incident attributed the strikes to Turkey.
The incident occured in the afternoon.
