Turkish drone strike in north Iraq said to kill 4 militants

IRBIL, Baghdad (AP) — A Turkish drone targeted a vehicle traveling in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Friday, killing four Kurdish militants, Iraq’s Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said.

In a statement, it said the drone struck the jeep in the town of Kalar in the northern province of Sulaymaniyah. A fifth passenger was wounded and was being treated in hospital.

The militants were from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, and has led an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 which has killed tens of thousands of people.

Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes into northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives. In April, it launched its latest offensive, named Operation Claw Lock in parts of northern Iraq – part of a series of cross-border operations which it started in 2019 to combat the outlawed PKK who are based in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq.

The Turkish defense ministry said in a tweet Friday that 6 PKK “terrorists” were neutralized in Iraq as part of an ongoing military campaign, but did not offer more details.