Missiles fired at Turkey’s Bashiqa base, no casualties: Nineveh deputy governor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Rockets were fired at a Turkish base in Nineveh province on Friday morning, the deputy governor told Rudaw.

“Multiple rockets were fired at the Turkish military base in Bashiqa town’s Zilkan, and according to our sources, one rocket landed near the village of Jubran and another near the village of Baybokh of the Shabaks, and the other two rockets were taken down by the Turkish forces,” Rafaat Smo told Rudaw’s Hemin Baban.

Smo added that no casualties were reported.

The base is home to Turkish personnel in Zilkan, 10 kilometers from the town of Bashiqa in Nineveh province. It was targeted earlier this year in April when four rockets were fired, killing one Turkish soldier and injuring two civilians, including a 12-year-old girl, in the attack.

Turkish soldiers have been at the base for several years, despite calls from Iraqi officials for them to leave.

Turkey-Iraq relations were strained in the wake of the deployment of some 150 Turkish soldiers to Iraq in December 2015. The troops are still present in the area.