ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s Joint Operations Command announced Wednesday that armed clashes broke out last night between the Iraqi army and "outlawed" fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Sinjar, with injuries reported on both sides.

The skirmish occurred after members of the the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), an all-Yazidi PKK-affiliated group "kidnapped a citizen in Sinjar district,” the Joint Operations Command said in a statement. 

"Immediately after the kidnapping, our security forces from the 20th Division of the Iraqi Army, the Sinjar Police… began pursuing [the kidnappers], cordoning off the entire area, and setting up a series of checkpoints,” the statement read.

The statement added during the operation, the YBS members "threw a grenade at one of the security forces' vehicles that were pursuing them, resulting in four members sustaining very minor injuries.”

It detailed that the Iraqi army managed to rescue the abducted individual and "wound two of the kidnappers, one of whom sustained a very serious injury, and arrested five others."

“Necessary legal measures were taken against those arrested, and they were handed over to the relevant authorities to complete their investigations and determine the motives for this criminal act.”

The YBS, which controls a massive chunk of land in the Sinjar region, earlier today issued a statement on the matter at hand, without specifying what factors triggered the altercation. 

The Iraqi army and the YBS have previously engaged in clashes in Sinjar over who should control the Yazidi heartland and its surroundings. 

The PKK-affiliated group also comes under sporadic Turkish bombings. 

In October 2020, under the leadership of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the Iraqi government inked a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government aimed at normalizing the situation in Sinjar.

The agreement outlined that the federal government would oversee security operations in Sinjar in collaboration with the regional government, while Nineveh's local administration would manage public services. It further mandated the removal of the PKK elements and other armed factions from the district, transferring control to the federal army and police. However, nearly five years since its ratification, the Iraqi government has yet to enact this agreement.