Iraq’s Kurdistan: PKK Plot to Attack Foreign Diplomats Foiled
ERBIL (Dispatches) – Authorities in Iraq’s Kurdish region say they foiled a plan by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to attack foreign diplomats.
The announcement comes more than a year after the killing of a Turkish consular official in the Kurdish capital Erbil, an attack which was attributed to the PKK.
In a statement, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) top security agency said attackers linked to the PKK had planned to kill diplomats in Erbil, but it did not say from which country.
The announcement comes as the PKK is under unprecedented pressure from a Turkish military assault.
"The group was observed and then intercepted by the security forces in an operation lasting four months,” it added.
An official from a Kurdish political group linked to the PKK denied it was involved in any planned attacks.
A gunman shot a Turkish diplomat dead in an Erbil restaurant in July last year, just weeks after Turkey launched an incursion into Iraq against the PKK. Kurdish officials privately blamed that killing on the PKK, which they say seeks to carry out similar attacks in the Kurdistan region.
The PKK faces one of Turkey’s fiercest military assaults for years against its bases Iraqi territory. Baghdad considers the Turkish invasion violation of its territorial integrity.
The militant group is also the target of a security and reconstruction agreement between Erbil and Baghdad that aims to eject all PKK affiliates from the town of Sinjar on the Syrian border.
Northern Iraq is split between the control of different forces and groups.
The PKK has waged its militancy in Turkey. It has come under regular assault from Turkey, although this year’s Turkish incursion into Iraq is one of the biggest Ankara has waged against the group there.
The announcement comes more than a year after the killing of a Turkish consular official in the Kurdish capital Erbil, an attack which was attributed to the PKK.
In a statement, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) top security agency said attackers linked to the PKK had planned to kill diplomats in Erbil, but it did not say from which country.
The announcement comes as the PKK is under unprecedented pressure from a Turkish military assault.
"The group was observed and then intercepted by the security forces in an operation lasting four months,” it added.
An official from a Kurdish political group linked to the PKK denied it was involved in any planned attacks.
A gunman shot a Turkish diplomat dead in an Erbil restaurant in July last year, just weeks after Turkey launched an incursion into Iraq against the PKK. Kurdish officials privately blamed that killing on the PKK, which they say seeks to carry out similar attacks in the Kurdistan region.
The PKK faces one of Turkey’s fiercest military assaults for years against its bases Iraqi territory. Baghdad considers the Turkish invasion violation of its territorial integrity.
The militant group is also the target of a security and reconstruction agreement between Erbil and Baghdad that aims to eject all PKK affiliates from the town of Sinjar on the Syrian border.
Northern Iraq is split between the control of different forces and groups.
The PKK has waged its militancy in Turkey. It has come under regular assault from Turkey, although this year’s Turkish incursion into Iraq is one of the biggest Ankara has waged against the group there.