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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone on Saturday night targeted a military base housing Turkish troops in northern Iraq, killing one person, as Turkey’s offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stationed in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains continues.
“A drone fell on the Turkish base tonight and injured one person who later passed away,” Mohammed Amin, mayor of Zilkan subdistrict, where the base is located, told Rudaw on Saturday.
Home to Turkish personnel in Zilkan, the base is located 10 kilometers away from the town of Bashiqa in Nineveh province. The base is also referred to as Bashiqa base.
Amin added that the deceased worked as a chef in the base and is originally from the Kurdistan Region.
The drone attack on Saturday came less than 24 hours after two suspected Turkish drones targeted a vehicle in Sulaimani province’s northwestern subdistrict of Aghjalar, killing five passengers, including at least two members of the PKK.
Later in the day, a vehicle was bombarded by unidentified forces in Makhmour camp, which is controlled by the PKK.
Turkey often targets PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region, sometimes causing civilian casualties but Ankara has repeatedly said that it does not target civilians. The attacks are often countered by the PKK.
Several rockets landed on Zilkan base on April 24. The base had been a target of at least four other rocket attacks in the year, prior to April 24.
Turkey-Iraq relations were strained in the wake of the deployment of some 150 Turkish soldiers to Iraq in December 2015. Turkish troops were deployed to the area on the pretext of training Iraqi and Kurdish forces in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
The troops are still present in the area despite calls from Iraqi officials for them to leave.
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