BAGHDAD (AP) 鈥 The Iraqi president announced Tuesday that he will summon Turkey鈥檚 ambassador and hand him a formal letter of protest over recent Turkish airstrikes on Iraqi territory.
The official protest came a day after an airstrike on a military airport in Arbat, southeast of the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq鈥檚 semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Three members of the region鈥檚 counterterrorism force died and three of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were wounded, according to local officials.
鈥淒ay after day, systematic military attacks on Iraqi territory, specifically in (the Kurdish) region, are escalating without military or security justification,鈥 Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid said in a statement.
The 鈥渁ggression targeted innocent civilians and military and security headquarters,鈥 he said.
Rashid belongs to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, which has its main seat of power in Sulaymaniyah.
There was no immediate comment from Turkey.
The targeted airport had recently undergone rehabilitation to facilitate the training of anti-terror units affiliated with the PUK, one of the two often-competing main parties in the region.
Bafel Talabani, the party鈥檚 leader, in an official statement on Monday labeled the alleged Turkish attack as part of a series of 鈥渃onspiracies鈥 aimed at jeopardizing Kurdistan鈥檚 security. He urged the federal government to 鈥渦phold its constitutional and national duties鈥 in safeguarding Iraq鈥檚 territory and airspace, specifically in the Kurdish region.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Alia Romanowski in a statement posted on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter) condemned the attack on the airport.
鈥淲e reaffirm our support for respect of Iraq鈥檚 sovereignty and territorial integrity 鈥 both are essential to Iraq鈥檚 stability and security,鈥 she said.
Also on Monday, the Kurdistan 春色直播 Congress, an umbrella organization of Kurdish groups and parties, said in a statement that one of its members was killed inside the group鈥檚 office in Erbil. It gave no details.
against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.
Ankara considers the PKK and allied Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations.
In April, Turkey closed its airspace to flights to and from Sulaymaniyah International Airport, citing an alleged increase in Kurdish militant activity threatening flight safety.
Days later, - Kurdish-led forces operating in northeast Syria that are allied with the United States but considered by Turkey to be an offshoot of the PKK - accused Turkey of launching a strike on the airport when SDF commander Mazloum Abdi was at the site. Abdi was unharmed.
Also on Tuesday, Iraqi officials announced that they had carried out an based in northern Iraq and to relocate their members from their current bases near the Iranian border. Iran has periodically carried out airstrikes on the groups鈥 sites on Iraqi territory.
A joint committee set up by the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government, said the bases had been 鈥減ermanently evacuated鈥 and their occupants 鈥渢ransferred to a place far from the border.鈥
