Two men were killed in alleged Turkish airstrikes on two vehicles near Hasinpirka village, Duhok province, on July 26th, 2020. Sources are conflicted about whether the men were civilians or PKK militants.

Kurdistan24 reported that “a Turkish airstrike in rural parts of the Kurdistan region’s Duhok province killed at least two civilians, a security source told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday. The raid struck and destroyed two vehicles, killing all occupants”, adding that initial reports claimed that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been targeted.

ANF Turkey wrote that the strikes hit civilians cars and identified the victims as Dilovan Şahin Omer Kesani and Ebdullah Ehmed. @eha_news, however, reported that two PKK vehicles were struck, adding that “sources report that high-ranking militants have been killed in the operation coordinated between the Turkish intelligence and army.”

Roj News initially reported only one death, but later wrote that two civilians were killed. The same source did write that “Abdullah Ahmed is said to be PKK’s intelligence peshmerga.”

The mayor of the Bamarne sub-district, Hamid Zubair, told Rudaw: “The two vehicles belonged to PKK fighters and they were targeted at [around] 4:30pm on the road between Barzanke and Ghilpish villages in Bamarne sub-district, killing two people in the vehicles.” According to Mr Zubair, “the airstrikes did not cause any human losses among civilians.”

According to NRT, one of the victims was a PKK militant, whereas the other was a civilian.

Civil defence teams reportedly put out the fire that was caused by the airstrikes.