Turkish warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on Thursday morning, targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants near Galala village in the Mawat district of Sulaimani province. The strikes, conducted between 10:45 and 11:00 AM local time, resulted in the deaths of three PKK members, including a senior official, according to Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism (KCT). Two other militants are still reported missing.

Turkey, along with the European Union and the United States, designates the PKK as a terrorist organization. The group’s presence in the Kurdistan Region has led to repeated Turkish military operations aimed at dismantling its strongholds.

Kamaran Othman, a member of the American Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Kurdistan, stated that heavy snowfall and challenging terrain have made it difficult to fully assess the extent of the damage caused by the airstrikes.

The prolonged conflict between Turkey and the PKK has severely impacted local Kurdish communities. For years, PKK militants have occupied villages, homes, orchards, and farmlands, displacing thousands of residents and disrupting their livelihoods. Ankara has justified its cross-border bombardments as necessary to combat the PKK, but Kurdish civilians continue to bear the brunt of the violence, caught between Turkish military operations and PKK occupation.