SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — A suspected drone strike on Wednesday targeted a vehicle in the Khalakan sub-district of Sulaimani’s Dukan district, killing three individuals. The victims, a father and his two sons from Ranya in Sulaimani’s Raparin administration, were identified by Sirwan Lala Sarhad, the mayor of Dukan.
The strike occurred around 2 p.m. (local time) on the Khalakan-Dukan road, according to Mayor Sarhad, who confirmed the deaths to Zoom News. All three occupants, Muzaffar Hussein Khidr and his sons, Mohammed and Matin, died in the attack. Reporting from the Sulaimani Medical Institute, Zoom News’ Ako Ameen verified the victims’ identities with their family.
#BREAKING: Three people were killed in a drone strike targeting their vehicle in Khalakan sub-district of the Sulaimani’s Dukan district, Sirwan Lala Sarhad, the mayor of Dukan, confirmed to Zoom News. pic.twitter.com/dquhYa3s3y
— Zoom News (@zoomnewskrd) September 4, 2024
The incident follows another drone strike on August 23, when a Turkish drone targeted a vehicle on the Halabja-Saidsadiq road, killing two journalists and injuring a third. No party has claimed responsibility for the recent attack, though in August 2023, a similar strike on the same road by Turkey resulted in one death.
Roj News Channel, affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claimed that the drone targeted a vehicle associated with the “Turkish State” and described the victims as a father and his two sons, referring to them as “martyred.”
Muzaffar Hussein Khidr and his two sons, Mohammed and Matin, were killed in a suspected Turkish drone strike on their vehicle early Wednesday. Khidr, an arms dealer from the Sangasar sub-district in Sulaimani's Raparin administration, was targeted on the Khalakan-Dukan road,… pic.twitter.com/vVnA43gmAA
— Zoom News (@zoomnewskrd) September 4, 2024
In a separate incident, a 29-year-old livestock herder was killed by Turkish airstrikes in the Sidakan highlands of Erbil’s Soran administration on Tuesday.
Kamaran Osman of the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) confirmed that the three individuals killed in the recent drone strike were from the same family residing in the Sangasar sub-district of Pishder district in the Raparin administration. The father was an arms dealer, and his two sons, aged between 14 and 18, were also among the deceased.
According to CPT, Turkish military operations in the Kurdistan Region have resulted in 12 civilian deaths and two injuries since the start of this year.
