Two Kurdish civilians from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, were killed in a Turkish military drone strike along the border between Oshnavieh, West Azerbaijan Province, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on 28 April while collecting spring herbs, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.

Rasoul Younesi and Ahmad Heidari lost contact with their families on 27 April after travelling to the border area.

The bodies of the deceased were found after an extensive search in the Khanireh area of the Kurdistan Region and were then taken to the forensic medicine department in Oshnavieh.

The Kurdistan team of the human rights organisation Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) confirmed the incident, stating that the two civilians were killed during the Turkish military’s drone strike on 28 April.

This incident is reminiscent of a previous tragedy on 28 April 2020, when two other Kurdish men from Oshnavieh, Fakhr Tazeh-Vared, 35, and Rashid Miro, 36, were killed in a similar bombing by Turkish military jets while they were collecting spring herbs in the same border area.