Three members of it Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), of the Turkish Kurdish separatist organization, were killed yesterday Saturday in a drone strike belonging to the “Turkish army”, announced the anti-terrorist services of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that his country would “continue to intensify” airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against PKK militants, an organization that Ankara and its Western allies label as “terrorist”.

This announcement was made after the kamikaze attack that injured two police officers and killed the two perpetrators.

The “Turkish army drone” strike yesterday Saturday targeted “a vehicle belonging to PKK fighters” in Dahuk province, Iraqi Kurdistan, the anti-terrorist services of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region said.

The victims were “a high-ranking official and two fighters” of the PKK, according to the same source.

The Turkish military rarely publicly comments on its strikes in Iraq, where it frequently conducts ground and air operations against the PKK and its bases in northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan and the Sinjar mountain range.

Turkey has for 25 years established dozens of military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan as part of its war against the PKK, which also has bases in the region.

Baghdad and Arbil have long been accused of turning a blind eye to Turkish bombings to keep intact their strategic alliance with Turkey, their key trading partner, despite their often fiery complaints about repeated violations of Iraqi sovereignty by Ankara and the consequences for civilians.

In the summer of 2022, artillery strikes in Ankara killed nine people, mostly vacationers from southern Iraq. Turkey had denied it was responsible and blamed the PKK.

At the end of July, the services of the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Sia al-Sudani reported that an official “visit” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iraq was imminent, but the date has not been announced, officially at least.