Five members of Turkish forces killed in an attack in northern Iraq

July 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least one Turkish soldier and four security guards were killed in an attack by suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed through its social networks.

The Ministry of Defense has indicated that the soldier Remzi Nizan and the guards Bulent Vermez, Kemal Imece, Avdi Demir and Veysi Sebik, died in the event, without giving further details in this regard.

On the other hand, he highlighted that at least four alleged members of the PKK have died in bombings carried out by Turkish planes in northern Iraq, amid the upturn in bilateral tensions after the death last week of nine Iraqi tourists in a attack blamed on Ankara.

Iraq’s National Security Council called on Turkey to “officially apologize” and “withdraw its military forces” from Iraqi territory, before criticizing Ankara for “ignoring” Iraq’s “continuous requests” to “end its violations against the sovereignty of Iraq and the security of its citizens”.

The Turkish government rejected the accusations from Baghdad and stated that the attack would have been carried out by the PKK, which has disassociated itself from what happened and has charged against the Turkish Army. Ankara announced in mid-April the start of a new offensive against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, which was described by Baghdad as a “national security threat”, given that the operations were not being coordinated. .

The Turkish Army has also repeatedly carried out military operations against the PKK and its allies in northern Syria since the ceasefire between the Government and the armed group was broken in July 2015.