Iraq: IDP camp in Sinjar targeted by Turkish airstrike

Iraq: IDP camp in Sinjar targeted by Turkish airstrike
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A drone strike targeting Sardasht camp in Yazidi homeland caused material damage, but there were no casualties, a Yazidi self defense force has said.

A camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Yazidi homeland Sinjar, Northern Iraq, was targeted by a Turkish drone strike on late Thursday, Sinjar Defense Units (YBS) said in a statement.

YBS said there were no casualties in Sardasht camp but only material damage on property, adding:

"Such attacks are a clear indication that the Turkish administration intends to finish doing what gangs of the Islamic State (ISIS) had failed to do."

The Kurdistan Region’s Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) said in a statement, however, that a Turkish airstrike targeting a YBS base resulted in casualties.

A town center in Sinjar was earlier hit by a Turkish drone on 23 September, without casualties.

YBS, a Yazidi self defense force that emerged in 2007 to protect Yazidis in the wake of attacks by Sunni Islamist groups, took part in the resistance against the Islamic State (ISIS) when the latter attacked Sinjar in 2014. Turkish authorities claim that the YBS is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated a "terrorist group" by Ankara.