SULAIMANIYAH: At least two people have been killed and two others wounded in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, officials said Sunday, blaming a drone strike carried out by Turkiye.
The strikes near the town of Penjwen, close to the Iranian border, targeted a vehicle carrying Turkish Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, one official said.
The PKK, which Ankara and its Western allies classify as a “terrorist” organization, operates rear bases in Iraq’s north.
Haval Abubaker, regional governor of Sulaimaniyah, expressed his “concern” about the “attacks” in a telephone call with Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan.
“According to preliminary elements of the investigation, two people were killed and two others injured by these attacks,” Abubaker said in a statement, which did not name the victims or mention any link to the PKK.
Since 1984 the PKK has waged an insurgency in Turkiye that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and Ankara has long maintained military positions inside northern Iraq where it regularly launches operations against them.
Abubaker expressed “hope that these attacks will stop, to preserve the security of the region,” according to his statement.
On April 7, drone strikes also blamed on Turkiye targeted the surroundings of Sulaimaniyah airport, when the commander of the Kurdish-led and US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces were present, as well as US troops.
Ankara denied any involvement.
Turkiye regards the SDF and its main component, the People’s Protection Units or YPG, as an offshoot of the PKK.
In July, artillery strikes blamed on Turkiye hit a park in Iraqi Kurdistan killing nine, which Ankara denied responsibility for and blamed the PKK.
