Exclusive: Border Patrol-PKK firefight erupts after surrender refusal

Shafaq News/ The deadly clash between Iraqi Border Guards and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Zakho, Kurdistan Region, broke out when a Border Guard patrol was investigating suspicious activity in the area, a source announced on Saturday.

The source told Shafaq News that the patrol approached a house where two PKK fighters were hiding and demanded their surrender. However, the fighters refused, leading to an intense firefight between the two sides.

Revealing the casualties, the source confirmed that the clash resulted in the deaths of two Border Guard members, with a third wounded, while the two PKK fighters inside the house were also killed.

“Following the incident, a Turkish warplane launched an airstrike on the same house, completely destroying it,” the source said.

“A day before the clash, there had been heavy clashes between Turkish forces and PKK fighters in the area between the villages of Shile and Suria, although no information was available on the resulting casualties,” the source also noted.

On Friday, the Iraqi Border Guard Command confirmed the armed combat with PKK militants in Batifa subdistrict, Zakho.

Earlier, a source confirmed that “the attack was carried out by PKK militants, who frequently target Iraqi and Peshmerga military positions along the Turkish border.”

The PKK has established a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains in the KRI and is active in various cities, regions, and valleys, launching attacks on Turkish territory from there.

Designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union, the group has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Turkish state since the 1980s, seeking greater autonomy for the Kurdish population in Turkiye.