KRG: Erbil shooting was ‘premeditated terrorist attack’
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Wednesday’s shooting at an Erbil restaurant in which a Turkish diplomat and two civilians were killed was a “premeditated terrorist attack”, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed Thursday evening.
“We are now treating the shooting incident in Erbil on Wednesday July 17, 2019, which killed three people, as a premeditated terrorist attack,” the KRG said in a statement late Thursday.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing and further details will be made public later, the statement added.
The Kurdistan Region's counter-terrorism agencies has identified a suspect, a Turkish national named Mazlom Dag, as part of its inquiries, posting his image on Facebook.
“The posted pictures are of an individual whose name is Mazlom Dag, born in 1992 and is from the city of Diyarbakir in Turkey. He is wanted by the security agencies of the Kurdistan Region. We call on dear citizens to notify the security agencies as soon as possible if they have any information regarding this culprit.”
No further details are given.
The shooting took place at an Erbil restaurant at around 2.30 p.m. local time on Wednesday. A Turkish consular employee and a local Kurd were killed. Another local who was injured in the attack later died in hospital.
One of the local victims has been named as Nariman Othman Ali, a father-of-three from Jundian.
The other local victim, who later died in hospital, was named as Bashdar Ramadhan from Diana. He was the secretary of a clinic.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi held a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, in which the Iraqi leader shared his condolences.
“The Prime Minister reiterated Iraq’s pride in the Iraqi-Turkish relationship and its keenness on protecting the security of diplomatic missions working in Iraq and rejecting any assault against them,” the PM’s office said.
According to a statement, the leaders agreed to continue cooperating in their efforts to defeat terrorism.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday stopped short of calling the incident a terrorist attack, saying further investigation was needed before Ankara could draw conclusions.
The Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), an armed group which has fought a decades-long war with Turkey to attain greater cultural and political rights for Kurds, has denied having anything to do with the incident.
The PKK is headquartered in the Kurdistan Region’s Qandil Mountains. Turkey recently launched a fresh offensive against the group called Operation Claw.
Updated 11.59 p.m.