The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) yesterday claimed responsibility for two attacks in northern Iraq that targeted five Kurdish security personnel earlier this week.
On Monday and Tuesday two attacks targeted Peshmerga bases in Dohuk province in the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, which has seen repeated clashes between Turkish forces and the PKK, which is labelled a terror group by Ankara.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Tuesday that the attacks were launched using drones.
In a statement yesterday the PKK said its forces had launched the “minor” attacks with caution to avoid “casualties”, in response to the Peshmerga building a new post in the area.
According to the statement, the new post “blocks” the road between the two regions as part of a “plan to destroy and besiege our forces”.
Kamran Othman of the US-based Community Peacemakers Teams, which monitors Turkish operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, told AFP on Tuesday that the Peshmerga were establishing a new post in a “sensitive Mount Matin area” known for tensions between the PKK and Turkish forces.
The two attacks came weeks after the PKK declared a ceasefire with Turkiye in response to Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan’s call for the party to lay down its arms and disband.
Turkiye has been establishing military bases in northern Iraq for 25 years to counter the party’s fighters deployed in sites and camps in the Kurdistan Region.
Despite the ceasefire, skirmishes between the two sides continue in several areas in northern Iraq.
The PKK stressed in its statement that it does not want to enter into conflict or war with any party, emphasising the need for dialogue to resolve outstanding issues.
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