ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several rockets on Sunday targeted military base housing Turkish troops in northern Iraq amid Turkey’s ongoing offensive against a Kurdish armed group stationed in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.
Around five rockets hit Zilkan base at around 7:50 pm, Mohammed Amin Gharib, the mayor of Zilkan told Rudaw.
The Kurdistan Region’s counter terrorism directorate confirmed the attack, saying at least six rockets targeted the base with “three of the rockets landing nearby the base.”
An anonymous source from within the base initially told Rudaw that at least six rockets had targeted the facility.
No casualties have been reported.
Home to Turkish personnel in Zilkan, the base is located 10 kilometers away from the town of Bashiqa in Nineveh province.
The base has been a target of at least four rocket attacks since the start of the year.
Turkey-Iraq relations were strained in the wake of the deployment of some 150 Turkish soldiers to Iraq in December 2015. Turkish troops were deployed to the area on the pretext of training Iraqi and Kurdish forces in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
The troops are still present in the area despite calls from Iraqi officials for them to leave.
The recent offense coincides with Ankara’s fresh military operation targeting suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases in northern Duhok province.
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