A source in the Turkish Defense Ministry told AFP that it had “no information to report or confirm artillery fire in this area”.
Eight civilians, among them women and childrenwere killed today and 23 wounded in northern Iraq by artillery fire attributed to neighboring Turkey that hit a park in the Kurdistan region, two local officials told AFP.
For a Turkish attack in the province Dohuk of northern Iraq, Iraqi state media said today.
The victims were mostly “Arab tourists of Iraqi origin mainly from central and southern Iraq,” who usually leave their hot regions to find some coolness in the highlands of autonomous Kurdistan, Mushir Bashir said. the head of Zaho district, where the park is located near the village of Parah.
“Turkey hit the village twice today”, he stated.
When asked by local television networks, Bashir said that “Turkish artillery fire in the tourist area of ​​Parah caused the death of eight people and the injury of 23”.
The victims included three women, two children and three men, a medical official in Zaho, Amir Ali, told reporters.
A source in the Turkish Defense Ministry told AFP that it had “no information to report or confirm artillery fire in this area”.
Turkey, which has de facto established dozens of military bases for 25 years in Iraqi Kurdistan, launched a new military operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels in northern Iraq in mid-April.
Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, maintains a complicated relationship with the PKK as its presence in the region hinders its trade relations with neighboring Turkey.
Turkish military operations are why the Turkish ambassador, who serves in Baghdad, is often called to the Iraqi foreign ministry, as these operations also complicate relations between Iraq’s central government and Ankara, which is one of the first trade Iraq’s partners.
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