ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s interior minister blamed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) “terrorists” for a deadly attack on border guards in Duhok on Friday morning.
Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari said in a statement that border guards Mehvan Naji and Ali Ramazan were killed while on duty in Zakho’s Batifa subdistrict in an attack carried out by “terrorist elements belonging to the banned PKK organization.”
A third border guard was wounded in the incident, according to the minister.
It is unusual for Iraqi officials to use the word “terrorists” in connection with the PKK. Baghdad has not designated the Kurdish armed group as a terrorist organization despite pressure from neighboring Turkey. The Iraqi government did, however, ban the group last year ahead of a landmark visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was followed by agreements in a range of areas, including security and anti-PKK operations.
Iraqi interior ministry later said that its forces had killed two PKK fighters during an altercation, reported state media.
Rojnews, a media outlet affiliated with the PKK, said the Iraqi border guards were killed by Turkey.
“The occupying Turkish army bombarded an Iraqi border checkpoint, causing the death of two soldiers and one wounded,” it reported.
Turkey has not commented on the incident, but its defense ministry on Friday afternoon reported airstrikes against the PKK in Duhok province, claiming that two members of the group were killed.
A Turkish soldier was killed by the PKK in the Kurdistan Region the day before, Ankara announced late on Thursday.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group, which has bases in the Kurdistan Region, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey.
Turkey began intensifying its decades-long war against the PKK in Duhok province last summer, looking to secure the border region.
Updated at 9:36 with Iraqi claim that it killed two PKK fighters.
