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Iraq condemns 'repeated Turkish attacks' after Kurdish officers killed
Iraq condemns 'repeated Turkish attacks' after Kurdish officers killed
by AFP Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 19, 2023

Iraq's President Abdel Latif Rashid condemned on Tuesday "repeated Turkish attacks", a day after a drone strike on a northern airfield killed three Kurdish counterterrorism officers.

Monday's strike on Arbat airfield, southeast of the city of Sulaimaniyah, also wounded three members of the counterterrorism forces of Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan.

"The Turkish ambassador will be called in to receive a letter of protest addressed to the Turkish president", Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rashid's office said in a statement.

"Mercy be on the martyrs of Iraq, the civilian and military heroes killed by repeated Turkish attacks," the presidency said, after the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in power in Sulaimaniyah had also condemned Monday's "terrorist attack".

Without confirming it was behind the attack, Turkey's foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the regional counterterrorism forces, affiliated with the PUK, of training with "PKK/YPG terrorists" at the time of the explosion.

"This development is quite disturbing as it has clearly revealed the cooperation between PUK's security apparatus and members of the terrorist organisation," it said in a statement.

The ministry said the incident "confirmed once again the accuracy of the measures we have taken regarding Sulaymaniyah".

Fighting between Ankara's army and Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants from Turkey has for decades spilled over into Iraqi Kurdistan, a rugged mountain region where both sides operate military bases.

Ankara also considers the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northeast Syria an extension of the PKK, even though it has been backed by the United States as part of an anti-jihadist coalition.

On Sunday, a Turkish drone strike killed a senior official and three PKK fighters in the Sinjar Mountains of northwestern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdish authorities said.

Ankara and its Western allies classify the PKK as a "terrorist" organisation.

- Iraq-Iran agreement -

Turkey operates dozens of military posts in northern Iraq initially established under an agreement struck in the 1980s with the government of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

In April, Baghdad accused Ankara of carrying out a "bombardment" near Sulaimaniyah airport while US soldiers and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces -- a US-backed alliance dominated by the YPG -- were present.

That strike too drew condemnation from the office of president Rashid, who is himself a Kurd.

But Iraqi Kurdistan has for decades hosted several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups hostile to the Islamic republic.

A year ago, Iran repeatedly bombed the groups' positions, accusing them of infiltrating its territory in order to lead attacks against its forces.

Iran also accused them of involvement in protests that exploded after the death in custody of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Tehran set September 19 as a deadline and threatened retaliation if Baghdad failed to implement a "security agreement" which stipulated the disarming of these groups and their settlement in camps far from the Iranian border.

Baghdad said Tuesday it had "respected its commitment" and had transferred these groups "to an area away from the border".

"These groups were disarmed ahead of giving them refugee status," added the statement published by a committee responsible for implementing the agreement, specifying Iraqi federal army border guards were deployed in the recently evacuated border areas.

Asked about the agreement, the UN's Iraq envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said "significant progress has been made".

"All sides are genuinely committed to the agreement. Long term security is essential for all," she told AFP.

Iraq says drone which killed three Kurdish officers came from Turkey
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 19, 2023 - A senior military official in Baghdad said Tuesday that a drone which killed three Kurdish counterterrorism officers had originated in neighbouring Turkey, and condemned the violation of Iraq's sovereignty.

Three members of the counterterrorism forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region were killed and three wounded in Monday's drone strike on Arbat airfield, southeast of the region's second city of Sulaimaniyah.

Around 5 pm (1400 GMT) Monday, "the drone entered Iraqi airspace, crossing the border from Turkey, and bombarded the Arbat airfield," which is mainly used by crop-spraying aircraft, said General Yehya Rassoul, spokesman of the federal armed forces commander in chief.

"This attack constitutes a violation of Iraq's sovereignty", he said, adding: "Iraq reserves the right to put a stop to these violations."

Turkey has stepped up its drone strikes on Kurdish targets in both Iraq and Syria in recent months, although deaths among the Iraqi Kurdish security forces remain rare.

"These repeated attacks are incompatible with the principle of good neighbourliness between states. They threaten to undermine Iraq's efforts to build positive and balanced political, economic and security relations with its neighbours," Rassoul said.

Turkish military action has principally targeted the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and its Syrian Kurdish ally, the People's Defence Units (YPG).

A Turkish drone strike on Sunday killed a senior PKK official and three fighters in the Sinjar Mountains of northwestern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdish authorities said.

The United Nations mission in Iraq condemned the attack on Arbat airfield.

"Attacks repeatedly violating Iraqi sovereignty must stop," it said. "Security concerns must be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy -- not strikes."

The Turkish army rarely comments on its strikes in Iraq but routinely conducts military operations against PKK rear-bases in autonomous Kurdistan as well as in Sinjar district.

The PKK has been waging a deadly insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades and the conflict has repeatedly spilt across the border into northern Iraq.

Turkey operates dozens of military posts in northern Iraq under an agreement originally struck with the government of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

In April, Baghdad accused Ankara of carrying out a "bombardment" near Sulaimaniyah airport while US soldiers and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed alliance dominated by the YPG, were present.

3 dead in drone strike on Iraqi Kurdistan airfield: statement
Arbat, Iraq (AFP) Sept 18, 2023 - Three members of Iraqi Kurdistan's anti-terrorism forces were killed Monday in a drone strike that hit an airfield near Sulaimaniyah, the autonomous northern region's anti-terrorism services said in a statement.

"Unfortunately the bombing killed three of our Peshmerga comrades from the anti-terrorist services" and wounded three others, the statement said, without identifying those behind the attack.

The drone strike targeted anti-terror forces at the Arbat airfield, southeast of Sulaimaniyah, which is mainly used by crop-spraying aircraft.

A "thorough investigation" has been launched into this "terrorist crime committed by foreign servants and local spies", the anti-terrorism services said.

"To protect the investigation, we will preserve the confidentiality of information. In the future we will reveal the truth to the people of Kurdistan," it added.

Attacks against Kurdistan's security forces are rare.

On Sunday, a Turkish drone strike in northern Iraq killed at least four members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), including a senior official, the Iraqi Kurdish authorities said.

Turkey has set up dozens of military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan over the past 25 years to fight against the group.

In April 2023, Iraq accused Turkey of carrying out a "bombardment" in the vicinity of the airport at Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan's second-largest city.

The strike took place while US soldiers and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-allied coalition dominated by Kurds, were at the airport.

The Turkish army rarely comments on its strikes in Iraq but routinely conducts military operations against PKK rear bases in autonomous Kurdistan as well as Sinjar district.

Iran has also carried out strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan.

A year ago, Tehran repeatedly bombed positions of various Iranian Kurdish opposition groups accused of involvement in protests that erupted in Iran after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman.

Bafel Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in power in Sulaimaniyah, condemned Monday's "terrorist attack".

"In the face of repeated violations, it is the duty of all political parties in Kurdistan to face security threats and challenges together, and to protect Kurdistan from its enemies," he said in a statement.

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