BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- An unidentified aircraft on Wednesday bombarded a vehicle of a Yazidi militia affiliated with the Turkish outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, leaving five militiamen killed, the Iraqi military said.
A brief statement by the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said the unknown plane at 11:35 a.m. local time (0835 GMT) conducted an airstrike on a vehicle belonging to the Sinjar Protection Units (YBS), also known as Shingal (Sinjar) Resistance Units, in Hitteen area near the town of al-Shimal, also known as Sunony, some 110 km west of Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
The YBS is a Yazidi militia formed in Iraq in 2007 to protect the Yazidi community in Iraq. The group is operating in concert with People's Defense Forces (HPG), which is the military wing of the PKK.
The PKK is seen by Turkey as a "terrorist" group, and the Turkish forces frequently carry out ground operations, airstrikes and artillery bombardment against the positions in northern Iraq, especially the Qandil Mountains, the main base of the PKK.
