Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least one civilian was killed and seven others were injured in alleged Turkish drone strikes on Makhmur refugee camp on May 21, 2022. In addition, one to two alleged members of the PKK were killed in the same incident.
Camp director Nechirvan Mahmoud told AFP that a suspected Turkish drone struck a vehicle in Makhmur refugee camp, killing a resident.
According to @SweeneySteve, at least seven people were injured in the strikes on Makhmour refugee camp. @dersi4m reported that a young man named Haci Mirza Ali who was injured in the same strikes died from his injuries the following day.
BasNews reported that according to a Turkish security source, the person killed was a senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) named Mehmet Erdogan, codenamed Ahmet Rubar. “The source added that Rubar had directed and overseen the PKK operations in the northern areas of Makhmur, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk since 2021. He used a fake ID card under the name Haji Mirza Ali, the source revealed.” Overall, BasNews identified “several people” as being killed and injured.
A tweet from @nicolas62574020 added that Turkey’s national intelligence organization accused Erdogan of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and violating Turkey’s territorial integrity” after joining the PKK in 1990. @SardarSattar added that “several PKK members” were killed in a PKK vehicle.
In contrast to reporting that those killed were militants, Media News reported that the vehicle struck belonged to the civilian and none of the sources specifically refer to Haci Mirza Ali as being a member of the PKK.
The New Arab pointed out that Makhmur refugee camp hosts more than 12,000 Kurdish refugees and that the camp is being sponsored by the United Nations.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two major political parties in the KRI, released a statement condemning the drone strike: “We call on the Iraqi government to fulfil its constitutional and national obligation to protect Iraqi soil and air space, including the KRI. The Iraqi government should approach the Turkish government about these violations through diplomatic channels. The KRI administration should summon Turkey’s ambassador and communicate to him its discontent with these attacks. There can be no excuse for border violations of this nature, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.”
All of the sources that report on the incident attributed the drone strikes to Turkey.
The incident occured at approximately 12:00 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes (3) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in Makhmur (مەخموور) refugee camp. Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed down the exact location of the strike to these coordinates: 35.75382, 43.605244.
Summary
Sources (14) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (7) [ collapse]
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Mehmet Erdogan, who was killed in alleged Turkish drone strikes on Makhmur camp on May 21, 2022. (Image posted by BasNews)
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Mehmet Erdogan, who was killed in alleged Turkish drone strikes on Makhmur camp on May 21, 2022. Turkey has accused Erdogan of being a member of the PKK. (Image posted by @nicolas62574020)
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Truck hit by alleged Turkish drone strikes on Makhmur camp on May 21, 2022. (Image posted by @nicolas62574020)
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Truck hit by alleged Turkish drone strikes on Makhmur camp on May 21, 2022. (Image posted by @nicolas62574020)
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Residents of Makhmur camp surround the truck hit by alleged Turkish drone strikes on May 21, 2022. (Image posted by @dersi4m)