Airstrike on military airport in northern Iraq kills three

An airstrike connected a subject airdrome successful bluish Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish portion killed 3 people, section officials said.

The region’s counter-terrorism work said successful a connection the onslaught connected the Arbat Airport, 28 kilometres southeast of the metropolis of Suleimaniyah, killed 3 of its unit and injured 3 members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The airdrome had precocious undergone rehabilitation to facilitate the grooming of anti-terror units affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, 1 of the 2 often-competing main parties successful the region, whose spot of powerfulness is successful Sulaymaniyah.

The counter-terrorism work did not blasted the onslaught connected immoderate party, but successful a statement, the Sulaymaniyah governorate urged “countries successful the portion to respect the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq”, implying that the onslaught was carried retired by Turkey.

Also connected Monday, the Kurdistan National Congress, an umbrella organisation of Kurdish groups and parties, said successful a connection 1 of its members was “assassinated” wrong the group’s bureau successful Erbil without giving further details.

Turkey often launches strikes against targets successful Syria and Iraq it believes to beryllium affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, oregon PKK, a Kurdish separatist radical that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.

In April, Turkey closed its airspace to flights to and from the Sulaymaniyah International Airport, citing an alleged summation successful Kurdish militant enactment threatening formation safety.

Days later, the Syrian Democratic Forces — Kurdish-led forces operating successful northeast Syria that are allied to the United States successful its combat against the Islamic State but considered by Turkey to beryllium an offshoot of the PKK — accused Turkey of launching a onslaught connected the airdrome erstwhile SDF commandant Mazloum Abdi was astatine the site. Abdi was unharmed.