Residents of the northern Iraqi province of Sinjar are bracing themselves for another bout of violence after Baghdad launched a military operation to clear the region of forces linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
On Sunday evening, heavy fighting erupted between the Iraqi army and the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) – an armed group composed of members of the Yazidi religious minority who largely live in Sinjar – near Dugri. On Monday the fighting also spread to the town of Sinune.
The clashes have seen Sinjar residents once again displaced from their homes. A Kurdish official told the Kurdistan 24 news website that around 200 families had been displaced by the fighting and were on their way to neighbouring Duhok, a province controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).