Calm takes hold as PKK terrorists leave Iraq’s Sinjar

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) - Calm prevailed in Sinjar in northern Iraq on Saturday after PKK terrorists withdrew from the district, according to an Iraqi police officer.

"PKK gunmen withdrew from central Sinjar late last night and moved towards Mount Sinjar,” the officer told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He said the PKK terrorists had left the area after protests from locals.

“Iraqi police and army deployed extra forces in the neighborhoods of Sinjar after terrorists pulled out of the area,” he added.

According to eyewitnesses, dozens of Sinjar residents demonstrated on Friday to demand an end to armed clashes in the district.

Clashes between Iraqi forces and PKK terrorists have forced nearly 700 families to flee their homes in Sinjar in recent days.

Sinjar was captured by the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group in 2014 and the PKK terror organization managed to establish a foothold in the area in 2015.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara