Turkish soldier killed in clashes in northern Iraq
Turkey's Defense Ministry says rockets targeting a Turkish military base in northern Iraq have killed one soldier
A Turkish soldier was killed in a rocket attack on a military base and wounded a child in a nearby village, in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the Turkish defense ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement that three rockets were launched at the base in northern Iraq’s Bashiqa region late on Wednesday. One of them hit the base, while two others landed at a village, wounding the child.
An armed drone was immediately deployed and other “necessary measures” were taken, the ministry said, without elaborating.
The ministry did not say who was responsible for the attack on Bashiqa, but Turkish troops have been battling militants of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which maintain bases in northern Iraq.
The assault on Bashiqa came the same day as a drone attack targeted U.S.-led coalition forces near a northern Iraqi airport, causing a fire that damaged a building. There were no casualties in that attack, officials said.
The group, listed as a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.
