On April 18, 2022, Turkey launched a new phase of the extensive military operation it is conducting in the area close to its southern border, in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, aimed at eradicating the presence of militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. In the weeks following the start of the operation, during April and May 2022, Turkish military forces raided many of the latter’s camps and hideouts throughout Duhok Governorate, particularly in the Metina, Zap and Avaşin-Basyan regions, neutralizing and recovering IEDs and an assortment of initiation systems, including RC, time delay and victim-operated systems, as well as different kinds of pressure plates, in addition to numerous weapons and ammunition. The documented items were mostly familiar from widespread past production and use by the PKK and the Syrian People’s Defense Units in Turkey, Iraq and Syria. At the same time, some less familiar items were evidenced, mainly those designed to serve in defensive roles or as power multipliers, to provide an advantage for militants operating from mountainous areas – for example, standardized sets of IEDs fitted with concealed victim-operated switches.
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