According to Rudaw, a Kurdish news outlet, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has condemned Friday’s strikes on Iraq’s Kurdish region, calling them “deliberate” and “a severe breach” of international norms, Al Jazeera reports.

The strikes killed nine members of the Iranian Kurdish opposition group, Komala, on Friday.

“Our nation faced a grave and unacceptable violation of our security and sovereignty. A ballistic missile strike, launched from Iran, targeted our homeland and our heroic security forces,” Bafel Talabani has said.

“We stand with our brothers in Erbil at this grave time; an attack on one is an attack on all,” he said, adding that while the Kurdish region did not seek a wider conflict, its restraint “should not be mistaken for a lack of resolve or ability”.