The Iraqi Ministerial Council for National Security condemned on Wednesday Turkey’s attack in Zakho (Zaxo) district of Dohuk that killed at least nine civilians including three children.
The council demanded that Turkey submit an official apology, and withdraw its military forces from Iraqi sovereign lands.
It said that the brutal Turkish attack targeting innocent civilians in a popular tourist resort in the Dohuk Governorate has led to a number of dead and wounded.
It took the decision to direct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to set an integrated file of the continuous Turkish attacks on Iraqi sovereignty, and to submit an urgent complaint in this regard to the UN Security Council and the United Nations.
The council also decided upon the suspension of the procedures for appointing a new ambassador to Turkey.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi also condemned the Turkish attacks in a written statement saying the artillery strikes that are blamed on Turkey and that the authorities said killed nine civilians on Wednesday in the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region were a “flagrant violation” of sovereignty.
He added that Iraq rejects Turkey’s attacks against Iraqi territory which violated international agreements.
Meanwhile, the attack was internationally condemned.
The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said that UNAMI strongly condemned the shelling of the mountain resort in the Kurdistan region of Dohuk Governorate on Wednesday, which reportedly killed eight tourists and wounded more than 20 others.
The United States also condemned the attack saying the US maintains strong support for Iraq’s sovereignty and its security, stability, and prosperity, including that of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
Turkey, on the other hand, rejects responsibility for attack and says that the attack was a terror act.
