Four Iraqi soldiers were injured after clashes with an armed group affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Nineveh province's Shingal (Sinjar) on Tuesday. The clashes resulted in several injuries on both sides, Sherwan Dubardani, a Kurdish lawmaker from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Nineveh province, told Rudaw.
The Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), an all-Yazidi force widely seen as an offshoot of the PKK, issued a statement on Thursday claiming that the Iraqi army targeted one of their vehicles in Shingal, leading to injuries among their fighters.
“The attack resulted in the capture of five of our comrades, some of whom were wounded, abused, beaten, with the incident being filmed and published. Their fate remains unknown until now,” read a statement from the YBS.
It slammed statements from the Iraqi army leadership labeling their captured fighters as "terrorists and mercenaries."
“Some statements issued by the army leadership describing our captured comrades as terrorists and mercenaries are unacceptable, and we categorically reject them,” the YBS stressed.
“Everyone knows that the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) are the force that defended and liberated Sinjar from ISIS [Islamic State] mercenaries, and it is the force that took over the protection of Sinjar's security afterward,” the group added.
YBS has controlled parts of Shingal since ISIS was defeated in the town but the presence of the force and several other forces in the district has been blamed for insecurity which has prevented thousands of its residents who fled due to the war on ISIS from returning.
“We demand the immediate release of our comrades,” the YBS said.
Shingal remains a volatile region with multiple armed groups present, including those affiliated with the PKK, the Iraqi government, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Ongoing security issues and a lack of basic services have prevented many displaced Yazidis from returning to their homes.
This is not the first time clashes have erupted between the Iraqi army and the YBS. In May 2022, a deadly altercation broke out over control of the town. Tensions were also high in March 2019.
The YBS was formed in 2007, but its role became more prominent after ISIS attacked the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in 2014, carrying out massacres against the ethnoreligious minority. With the help of PKK fighters, who descended from the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas, the YBS was able to control large swathes of land in Shingal.
Despite opposition from Baghdad and sporadic attacks by Ankara—which considers it an offshoot of the PKK—the YBS remains one of the dominant forces in the area.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has been engaged in a decades-long conflict with Ankara, resulting in over 40,000 deaths.
Last year, Iraq officially banned the PKK, paving the way for stronger relations between Baghdad and Ankara. Subsequently, both countries signed dozens of agreements in various fields, including security.
