The drone responsible for Monday’s attack on the Arbat agricultural airport in Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî), Iraqi Kurdistan had taken off from Turkey, Iraqi General Staff spokesman Major General Yahya Rasoul said on Tuesday.
In a strongly worded statement, Rasoul condemned the incident as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. “It poses a significant breach and threat to both regional and global peace and security, thereby infringing upon the tenets of international law and the fundamental principles and objectives outlined in the United Nations Charter,” he said.
General Rasoul stressed that the attack was incompatible with the neighbourly relations between the two countries and posed a direct threat to the security of Iraqi citizens. He also reiterated Iraq’s right to put an end to such violations.
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The attack, which took place at around 17:00 local time on Monday, killed three members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) counter-terrorism unit and injured three others.
PUK leader Bafel Talabani strongly condemned the “terrorist attack” and urged Baghdad to implement measures to prevent further incidents. The governor of Sulaymaniyah, Heval Abubakir, was also quick to condemn the attack.
The head of the PUK’s Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG), Wahab Halabjayee, announced that a thorough investigation into what he called a “terrorist crime” had begun in coordination with coalition forces and representatives of countries in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
Turkish authorities have refrained from issuing an official statement on the incident. It is worth noting that Turkey has previously carried out military operations in the Kurdistan Region, primarily targeting members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Over the past quarter century, Turkey has established numerous military installations in Iraqi Kurdistan as part of its cross-border operations.
In April 2023, Turkey conducted an airstrike near the Sulaymaniyah International airport. The incident occurred while US military personnel and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were present at the airport.
