A Turkish drone was shot down by the Iraqi military in Kirkuk (Kerkûk), Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday.
Ebdulselam Ferhan, a commander of the Iraqi Air Forces, shared that the drone was shot down after it had been targeted with five rockets. He also stated that the drone belonged to the Turkish Armed Forces and that it had crossed from the Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) border into Kirkuk’s airspace, despite it previously being denied permission to enter.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team was dispatched to the scene after the downed drone was identified as a Turkish-made TAI Anka model. After an initial investigation, they concluded that, “The incident, which occurred in the densely populated Tese’in neighbourhood, could have resulted in a catastrophe if the missile exploded.”
The shootdown of the drone comes after two women journalists, Gulistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn, were killed in a Turkish drone strike close to Sulaymaniyah on 23 August.
