The Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq have both condemned a PKK terrorist attack on the Peshmerga security forces in the northern region of the country.
In a written statement Thursday, Baghdad strongly condemned the PKK attack that killed a Peshmerga fighter and injured two others.
"The Iraqi government affirmed its strong rejection of the attack that took place inside Iraqi territory and considered it an assault on the country's sovereignty," according to a statement by the Office of Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi.
The Baghdad government vowed to take measures "to put an end to the attacks that are a violation of the security and sovereignty of the country."
The Irbil administration also said Wednesday that the PKK terrorist group's attack on the region's forces crossed a "red line."
The reaction came in a statement issued by the regional government after its weekly meeting in Irbil that took place hours after Peshmerga fighters were attacked in a bomb blast targeting their vehicle.
"Any attack of this kind is an attack on all our people and our legitimate institutions," the KRG statement read, adding that "the attack of the (PKK) terrorist organization today crossed the red line."
The statement went on to stress that the KRG will work to prevent any deterioration in the security situation in the region.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in northern Iraq's Sinjar in mid-2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and command-and-control activities. Around 450,000 Yazidis escaped Sinjar after Daesh took control of the region in mid-2014.
Earlier Wednesday, one Peshmerga fighter was killed and two others were wounded by the detonation of an explosive device planted by PKK terrorists, north of Dohuk province, on the Turkish border.
On Monday, the former president of the region, Masoud Barzani, called for preventing the PKK from imposing its will on the region.
Barzani said the terrorist group occupied the border areas during the Daesh attack on the region.
The terror attack came amid a time when the central government and the KRG in Iraq are cooperating to remove the PKK presence in Sinjar.
On Oct. 9, the Iraqi Prime Ministry announced it reached a "historic deal" with the KRG, an agreement that will bolster the Iraqi federal authority in Sinjar under the constitution in terms of governance and security.
The Iraqi prime minister's spokesperson, Ahmed Mulla Talal, said in a Twitter statement that the agreement will end the authority of intruding groups in Sinjar, referring to the PKK.
The next day, the Iraqi parliament said the settlement agreement between the Iraqi government and Iraq's KRG on the status of the Sinjar district will accelerate the return of displaced people.
Analysts say the Sinjar deal has the potential to facilitate the removal of the PKK presence in the region and return the displaced Yazidis to their homeland, though they also express doubt about the implementation of the deal in practice.
Following the announcement of the deal, the Turkish Foreign Ministry had said in a statement that it hoped the agreement would be carried out in a way that enables the reinstatement of Iraqi authorities' control in Sinjar, the eradication of Daesh and PKK terrorist organizations and their extensions in the region and ensure the safe return of Yazidis and the other people of the region who have been subject to grave oppression and persecution, first at the hands of Daesh and then the PKK.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks on Turkey. Iraq's KRG previously called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to leave the area.
Turkey has long stressed that it will not tolerate terror threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps are not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terror threats, particularly in Sinjar.
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