SULAIMANIYAH: A drone attack targeting a car in Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdish region killed three people on Wednesday, a local official told AFP.
The attack, which occurred on the Dokan-Khalakan road, has heightened tensions in the region already marked by ongoing conflict involving the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish military operations.
Dokan district governor Sirwan Sarhad confirmed the fatalities, stating that the drone attack left three people burned beyond recognition in the vehicle. Sarhad identified two of the deceased as a father and son from the Ranya area of the Kurdish region.
The PKK, a leftist group that has been engaged in an intermittent insurgency against Turkey since 1984, is designated as a “terrorist organization” by Ankara and its Western allies. Turkey has maintained a military presence in northern Iraq for the past 25 years as part of its campaign against the PKK.
The federal government in Baghdad, while discreetly opposing the PKK, officially banned the organization in March. Last month, Baghdad and Ankara formalized a military cooperation agreement that includes the establishment of joint training and command centers aimed at combating the PKK.
On August 23, a drone strike, attributed by Kurdish regional officials to Turkey, resulted in the deaths of two women journalists who were working for PKK-affiliated media outlets. Furthermore, Turkish air strikes in the mountains of northern Iraq on Tuesday targeted PKK positions, with the Turkish defence ministry claiming that several militants were killed.
