BAGHDAD: At least two people were killed and seven injured in Turkish air strikes targeting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) sites in Iraq’s northern province of Sinjar, security sources said on Wednesday.

They said one strike targeted an intelligence headquarters and another hit a council building, causing damage to nearby shops. Videos on social media showed plumes of thick smoke and fires ablaze while people ran away in the street.

There has been a long-running Turkish campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which are both regarded as terrorist groups by Ankara. Turkey regularly carries out air strikes into northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives.

In April, the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Iraqi charge d’affaires after Baghdad accused Ankara of violating its sovereignty and called on it to withdraw all of its forces from Iraqi territory. The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which in the past was mainly focused in southeast Turkey.

Published in Dawn,June 16th, 2022