AT LEAST four people were killed in a Turkish drone strike in the city of Kalar, deep inside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq today, as its illegal war and occupation continues to escalate. 

Local sources said the drone struck a vehicle in the city, which lies close to the border with Iraq, at around 6am in the morning. 

Four people travelling in the car were reported to have been killed instantly, while another was injured. 

Intelligence sources claimed the men were linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but the reports remain unverified and these claims are often unsupported. 

The drone strike in Kalar marks an uptick in these kind of attacks and comes just days after a 12-year-old boy was killed in the Yezidi region of Shengal.

Sources told the Morning Star that the latest attack shows that Turkey is emboldened by Iraqi and international silence over its war on the Kurdish people. 

But they said that the use of drones in targeted assassinations was another sign that it is struggling in its military operations where ground troops have met fierce resistance from Kurdish guerilla forces. 

PKK sources claimed that nearly 1,000 Turkish soldiers have been killed since the launch of Operation Claw Lock in April. 

It has not been possible to verify the figures, which the PKK said were being covered up by the Turkish armed forces.

“The Turkish army goes to great lengths to hide its own casualties, because it would run against their success narrative pumped into the brains of the Turkish citizens,” the source told the Morning Star. 

Turkey has been bombing Kurdish villages every day for the last 14 months, with around 2,000 civilians forced to flee their homes. 

Victims of the Turkish assault have described their symptoms to the Morning Star, with many claiming to have been exposed to chemical attacks. 

Access to the region is virtually impossible, with the regionally dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party refusing permission to journalists to enter.

The Barzani-dominated party has been accused of colluding with Turkey in its military operations, with its peshmerga launching attacks on PKK bases in the Avasin, Metina and Zap mountains. 

PKK military commander Cemil Bayik says war is being waged by Nato as imperialist forces seek access to the region’s oil.