Turkey targets PKK-linked Yazidis inside Iraq

A local Yazidi armed group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party and affiliated with the government-incorporated Popular Mobilization Units has been targeted as part of stepped-up Turkish cross-border operations.
Iraqi riot police protect the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad after calls on social media to gather outside the embassy to protest Turkey's vows to invade the northwestern enclave of Sinjar, Iraq, Feb. 18, 2021.
Iraqi riot police protect the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad after calls on social media to gather outside the embassy to protest Turkey's vows to invade the northwestern enclave of Sinjar, Iraq, Feb. 18, 2021. - Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images
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Shelly Kittleson
@shellykittleson
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BAGHDAD — Turkey has targeted members of a local Yazidi armed group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and taken losses among its own forces stationed in the region.

The military commander of the local armed faction, the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), Marwan Badal, was reportedly killed by a drone strike on his car Dec. 7.

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