ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A group of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters attacked Peshmerga in Duhok province on Wednesday morning, claims the local mayor. While three injuries amongst the Kurdistan Region military force were initially reported, a source at Duhok's emergency hospital has told Rudaw reporter Ayub Nasri that one Peshmerga later died. The incident took place in the Duhok's Chamanke sub-district in Amedi, Aland Amir, the town’s mayor told Rudaw. According to the official, the situation is not yet stable and there continues to be gunfire. This latest attack comes several days after the PKK exploded a Kurdistan-Turkey oil pipeline, the main source of income for the Kurdistan Region which is already suffering from a crippling economic crisis. On Thursday, the PKK issued a statement stating they had carried out a “successful sabotage action” on the Botas oil pipeline in Turkey’s Mardin province on Wednesday. “As a result of this action, the pipeline at the site was completely destroyed.” Top Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Monday accused the PKK of invading the self-autonomous region in northern Iraq while Peshmerga forces were fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) group. The leader of the Kurdistan Region's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said that while Peshmerga was fighting ISIS from 2014, "PKK fighters invaded these border areas and then some others instead of supporting the experience of the Kurdistan Region," referring to areas in Nineveh province such as Shingal and villages on the Kurdistan Region's border with Turkey. The PKK is a Kurdish armed group fighting for increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. It has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984, and is deemed a terrorist organisation by Ankara. With reporting by Sirwan Abbas Updated at 3:06 PM
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