The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq is determined to protect its people from all sorts of attacks, the spokesperson said Friday, in response to a recent attack by the PKK terrorist group.
Jotyar Adil told Anadolu Agency (AA) Thursday that the KRG government does not know if the PKK attacks will repeat in the future, but it will take the necessary precautions to prevent them.
The KRG said the PKK's attack on the region's forces crossed a "redline."
The PKK managed to establish a foothold in northern Iraq's Sinjar in mid-2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Yazidi community from the Daesh terrorist group. 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.
On 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 minister's office announced it had 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.
US condemns PKK attack on Peshmerga
The U.S. on Thursday "strongly" condemned an attack by the PKK terrorist group on Peshmerga security forces in Iraq's northern Kurdish region.
Washington remains "steadfast" in its support for Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and KRG "in their efforts to root out terrorism," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown said in a statement.
"We extend our sympathy and condolences to the families of those killed and injured in these attacks," said Brown.
The U.S.-listed terror group attacked Peshmerga forces in Duhok province Wednesday morning, killing one and injuring two others, according to the Rudaw news agency.
