Three civilians killed in suspected Turkish drone strike in Iraqi Kurdistan's Sulaimaniyah province

A suspected Turkish drone strike killed three people in the Sulaimaniyah province of the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Wednesday afternoon, according to a local official.

The airstrike targeted a civilian car on the main road connecting the Khalakan sub-district of Sulaimaniyah to Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region.

"The drone airstrikes occurred at 1:50 PM local time, targeting a Land Cruiser on the Khalakan main road, killing three male passengers," Kamaran Abdullah, mayor of Khalakan, told The New Arab.

"The bodies are unidentified due to them being completely burned," he added, noting that firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the blaze and transferred the remains to a local hospital. An investigation by the police is currently underway.

While Reuters and other local sources attribute the attack to Turkey, no official confirmation has been made.

Turkey has been conducting regular airstrikes in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and northeastern Syria, an area known as Rojava, which is under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

These airstrikes aimed to target suspected PKK militants, though they often resulted in civilian casualties.

Kamaran Othman, from the Community Peacemaker Teams in Iraqi Kurdistan, wrote on Facebook that the victims were members of one family from the Sangasar sub-district. Two of the victims were identified as Muzafar Hussein Khidir and Mohammed Muzafar Hussein; the third victim has not yet been identified.

Othman also reported another Kurdish civilian casualty on Tuesday. Badie Kamal Muhammed, a 29-year-old, was killed by Turkish artillery shelling in Merga Hawsh village in the Sidakan district of Erbil province while grazing cattle.

According to Othman’s figures, 15 civilians have been killed and two injured since the start of this year due to Turkish airstrikes and military operations in the Kurdistan region.

The PKK, which was formed in the late 1970s, seeks Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, the UK, and the EU.