TURKEY has been accused of trying to continue the Yazidi genocide in northern Iraq after targeting the Sengal area with drone strikes on the pretext of operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Ankara has launched a number of bombing raids against what it insists are “terrorists” as part of Operation Claw Eagle, which began in June.

It has struck the Yazidi settlement area in Sengal, part of Iraqi Kurdistan, twice this week with no casualties reported, but causing damage to land and infrastructure.

The Sengal Resistance Units (YBS) warned that “the Turkish state has a new concept” to continue the massacre of Yazidis perpetrated by Isis in 2014.

More than 5,000 men and boys were killed by the jihadists and around 7,000 women and girls were abducted and sold into sexual slavery, 3,000 of whom are still missing.

The YBS accused the Turkish state and intelligence services of co-ordinating the attacks with “collaborators,” including the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Nerchivan Barzani.

He has recently referred to Sengal as an unofficial and illegal territory while allowing officials from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) to operate from bases throughout Iraqi Kurdistan, despite having no official status.

YBS officials called on people to “stop taking the side of the collaborators” describing the MIT as the historical enemy of the people.

“The attacks on YBS must be understood as an attack on Yazidism,” a statement said.

“The fascist Turkish state has committed dozens of massacres of our people.

“It wants to destroy our people and our faith. Nobody should forget this,” officials said, vowing to continue their resistance.

The YBS accused the Turkish state of seeking a demographic change similar to that of Afrin in northern Syria where 300,000 Kurds were forced from their homes.