Iraq: Turkish strike kills two PKK fighters, two others wounded

A Turkish drone strike in Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday killed two fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and wounded two others, authorities said.

The Turkish army rarely comments on its operations in Iraq but it often carries out air and ground raids on PKK positions in the north of the neighbouring country, mostly in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

"Two fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party were killed and two others wounded when a Turkish army drone targeted a group of PKK fighters in Buskini, a village in the Ranya region," counter-terrorism services in Iraqi Kurdistan said in a statement.

The area lies north of Sulaimaniyah, the second largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan.

In the past 25 years Turkey has established dozens of military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan to fight the PKK, which also has rear bases in the area.

Last month Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would "continue to intensify" its strikes against the PKK in Iraq and Syria, which Ankara and its Western allies consider a "terrorist" group.

Monday's strike on Iraqi Kurdistan came on the same day Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was hosting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Ankara.

At the end of October, 10 PKK members were killed in strikes by Turkish warplanes and drones in Iraqi Kurdistan, the authorities in the region said.

Both Baghdad and the Kurdistan regional government have been accused of tolerating Turkey's military activities to preserve their close economic ties.

In July 2022, artillery strikes blamed on Turkey hit a recreational park in the Iraqi Kurdish border village of Parakh, killing nine people.

Ankara denied responsibility for the attack and blamed the PKK.