'Turkish attack' kills two Iraqi border officials in northern Erbil province: Iraqi security cell

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An unmanned drone targeted a meeting between Iraqi border officials and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters and a military vehicle in the northern Erbil province’s Bradost area Tuesday afternoon,  officials confirmed.

Two Iraqi border officials were killed in the bombing, Ihsan Chalabi, mayor of Sidakan told Rudaw.  Chalabi identifies the two slain officials as Zubair Hali Bradosti and Mohammed Rashid Sulaiman, both Kurds.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell later confirmed the strike, attributing it to Turkey. The body's tweet clarified that the two border officials, as well as a driver were killed in a military vehicle.

The meeting, held in Bradost’s Bermi Dindaran area, near the town of Sidakan, came after PKK fighters fired on Iraqi border guards Monday night as the latter advanced further into the mountainous region.

"Last night, a number of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters neared the Border Guards’ berms in the vicinity of the Sidakan sub-district resulting in a quarrel at first and later some bullets were fired, resulting in no casualties," Maj. Gen. Hemad Dizayee, commander of the Border Guards Command, told Rudaw. The mayor of Sidakan claims a shepherd named Manaf Abdulla, 51, from Amokan village was wounded in the clash.

Dizayee says that after the brief skirmish, PKK fighters left the area, and refutes claims that Iraq has deployed more troops to the area following the skirmish.

Iraqi border guards have established a number of new bases for its border force bases on the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border in past months currently heightened PKK-Turkey conflict into towns and villages

Turkey began air and ground military operations in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq's disputed territories in mid-June, with the stated aim of removing suspected PKK targets from the area. Seven civilians have been killed in the operations.

The PKK is an armed group fighting for Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey. It has been clashing with Turkish forces inside and outside Turkey since 1984.

Turkey has conducted airstrikes and ground operations against the PKK within Iraq’s borders for years, accusing the federal Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government of failing to take measures against the group.

The Iraqi foreign ministry has summoned the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad twice, but this has failed to de-escalate the tensions or halt Turkey’s offensive.

According to intelligence information obtained by Rudaw, from the eighties to mid-June 2020, Turkey established military bases in 24 strategic locations in the areas of Kani Masi, Deralok and Shiladze. 

Warplanes were circling over the site of Tuesday the drone strikes, Rudaw's reporter near the scene said shortly after the attack.

Karwan Faysal, head of the Sidakan Hospital told Rudaw two Iraqi border guards were wounded in the attack.
 
There has been no official confirmation of PKK casualities in Tuesday's attacks. 

Earlier in the day Turkish artillery "intensely" shelled Zakho areas resulting in scorched farmlands, but no casualities, says a local official.

"At 2pm, the Turkish artillery intensely shelled the back side of Sharanshian village in the vicinity of our town with 30 mortars," Zeravan Musa, mayor of Darkar town claimed.

Zakho's Darkar sub-district has 63 villages, 25 of which have been subject to Turkish bombardment, Musa had earlier told Rudaw.

Last updated at 9:00 PM