SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) – Turkish drone strikes on Wednesday killed two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in two separate attacks in Iraq’s northern province of Sulaimaniya, according to Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service and a security source.
The first drone attack targeted a vehicle in a mountain area near Sulaimaniya, killing one person identified by the Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service statement as a “PKK intelligence official”. Two PKK fighters were seriously wounded in the drone strike.
A separate Turkish drone strike targeted a vehicle, killing one PKK member and wounding two in an area just 10 km (6 miles) from the mountain resort of Dukan, said the Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service statement.
The Dukan area attracts thousands of Iraqi tourists in the summer as they bid to avoid sweltering heat elsewhere.
Kurdish security sources said the recent stepping up of drone attacks against PKK targets by Turkey was a “worrying development” and that the central government in Baghdad should intervene to stop the attacks.
Wednesday’s attacks were the fourth in three days by Turkey on PKK targets in northern Iraq.
Turkey regularly carries out air strikes in northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives as part of a long-running campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the Kurdish PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara regards both as terrorist groups.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
Turkish drone strikes on Sunday killed two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants and wounded two in Iraq’s northern provinces of Sulaimaniya and Dahuk.
(Writing by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
