At least one civilian was reportedly killed on February 22nd 2023 as a result of reported Turkish drone action, hitting a car on the road between Qamishli and Al-Qahtaniya, north east of Al Hasakah, Syria.

كوردستان پوست Kurdistan reported on Facebook that the civilian killed was Khalil Munji. Local sources also reported that a commander of the Internal Security Forces was injured in the same attack.

Other sources, including Al Araby reported that two people were killed, and one of them was involved in the “Taksim bombing” in Istanbul last November. Sources from the Syrian Democratic Forces told Al Araby that Khalil Munji was mentioned in the leaks published about the investigation and that he is a civilian person who trades agricultural products. It is not clear that he is linked to the “SDF” or “Workers’ Party” militias, but they confirmed he worked with a group of smugglers. After the strike, “ambulances also transported the injured from the targeted area to the hospital” but it is unclear how many people were injured.

Al Araby also reported that the car attacked was a jeep that belonged to the Syrian Democratic Forces while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights referred to the vehicle as a “civilian car.”

Sputnik News Agency, a Russian state-run news agency quoted by SABA reported that “at least two militants from the “Qasd” forces loyal to the US army were killed by targeting a Turkish drone.” Al-Khabour Network quoted a private source who stated that two leaders of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), one of whom was leader in the Internal Security Forces, were killed and provided their names as Hussein Al-Khalil and Haval Akram, also accusing them of being involved in the Taksim bombing.

BasNews added that one of the suspects, Ammar Gerkes, confessed to the Turkish government that a person named “Khalil Munji,” residing in the Syrian city of Qamishlo, asked Gerkes to transfer Ahlam al-Bashir, who was responsible for the bombing. However, Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory said “the civilian who was killed in the strike was known to smuggle people to Turkey. The man had, however, denied accusations by Turkish authorities that he smuggled into Turkey Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian woman who is accused of carrying out the attack.”

According to ANF, the strikes occurred on a road between Qamishlo – Tirbe Spih and was near the village of Bouira, east of the city of Qamishlo.

The majority of sources that reported on the incident attributed the strikes to Turkish forces. The official Anadolu Agency, Turkish state-run news, quoted security sources as saying that the Turkish intelligence managed, through an operation in northern Syria, to neutralize the mastermind behind the planning and implementation of the terrorist bombing on Istiklal Street – admitting that they carried out the strike.

The incident occured in the afternoon.