Drone attack kills five in Mosul ​

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone targeting a vehicle in western Mosul on Sunday left at least five dead and two others injured, an official told Rudaw with the Kurdish counter terrorism department confirming the attack shortly after.

Nineveh MP Sherwan Dubardani told Rudaw’s Nahro Mohammed that the incident occurred in Mosul’s Haj Dijlah village, killing five people and injuring two others, without identifying the drone.

Shortly after Dubardani's statement, the Kurdistan Region's Counter Terrorism Directorate claimed that the drone was Turkish and it hit a “PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] vehicle … killing five PKK fighters.”

However, media outlets affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) alleged that the attack was conducted by Turkey, hitting a civilian’s car.

Voicing his condemnation of the attack, Nineveh’s Governor Najim al-Jubouri later in the day said the drone that hit the area was Turkish and called on the Iraqi government to protest such actions to the Turkish government.

News outlets of Iraq’s Iran-backed parties also said that the attack was conducted by Turkey. Ankara has not commented on the incident as of yet.

The PKK is a Kurdish armed group fighting for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey. Ankara has classified the PKK as a terrorist organization, and regularly carries out attacks and military operations against the group in Turkey and in northern Iraq.

Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have witnessed an increase in the number of drone attacks in recent months.

A drone targeted a car in Garmiyan in June, killing at least four.

Also in June, a suspected Turkish drone targeted the headquarters a militia group affiliated with the PKK in Shingal, killing at least one.

Updated at 9:39 pm