MESOP NEWS : PYD/YPG BODYCOUNT – At least 111 Kurdish YPG fighters killed in recent attacks by Turkey, Islamists

ARA News – 5 June 2017 – Kurdish leadership of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) announced on Sunday the death of 111 of its fighters during offensives by the Turkish Army and Turkey-backed Islamist groups in northern Syria.According to the YPG media office, the Turkish Army and allied Islamist rebels launched more than 80 attacks on Kurdish areas held by the YPG in May.

“Turkey’s military used heavy artillery and mortar shells in its offensives against the YPG-held areas in Rojava-Northern Syria,” YPG officer Habun Osman told ARA News.The Kurdish forces responded to 51 attacks in May, killing two Turkish soldiers and 20 pro-Turkey Syrian fighters, beside wounding at least eight fighters.

One of the main Turkey-backed groups that have been attacking the Kurds in Syria is the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham, which has recently stepped up its attacks on YPG-held areas in Afrin district in northwestern Aleppo.The recent Turkey-led attacks have also caused dozens of civilian casualties among the Kurds in Rojava, according to human rights activists.The YPG also revealed that their headquarters in the Shaddadi town in northeastern Syria was exposed to a ISIS-led twin car bomb attacks last week. The targeted building was a security office of the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). “The terrorist attack led to the death of eight YPJ female fighters and the injury of several others,” it said. The YPG is a leading faction within the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance that has been engaged in heavy fighting against ISIS and other radical groups in northern Syria for years.

Reporting by: Hozan Mamo