MOSUL (AFP/Xinhua) – Rockets hit the vicinity of the Turkish consulate in Iraq’s main northern city of Mosul causing damage but no casualties, Iraqi and Turkish sources said Wednesday.
The overnight fire came after deadly shelling blamed on the Turkish army killed nine civilians last week, prompting anti-Turkish protests in cities across Iraq.
Four rockets hit, causing damage to cars parked in the street near the consulate, provincial lawmaker Shirwan Dobardani told AFP.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Turkey, which denied its forces were behind last week’s artillery bombardment and instead blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), condemned the overnight rocket fire.
“We condemn this attack, in which no casualties were reported, in the strongest terms,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We firmly request the Iraqi authorities to fulfill their responsibilities in protecting diplomatic and consular missions.”
The ministry said it was a “grave and noteworthy development that the attack was carried out during the UN Security Council meeting, which was held upon the call of the Iraqi authorities.”
Following last week’s shelling, Baghdad called on the Security Council to pass a resolution demanding that Ankara withdraw its troops from northern Iraq, where it maintains a network of bases as part of its long-running campaign against the PKK.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has called on the UNSC to urgently adopt a resolution demanding that Turkey withdraw all its troops from Iraqi territory and halt incursions into the Arab country’s airspace.
Hussein made the request during a speech at an emergency meeting of the UNSC on Wednesday.
A source from Mosul Police, speaking on the condition of anonymity, has told Xinhua news agency that several houses were damaged when six mortar rounds landed near the Turkish Consulate.
On Sunday evening, a rocket attack targeted a military base housing Turkish troops in the district of Bashiqa near Mosul City.
A group dubbed Saraya Awliya al-Dam (Guardians of Blood Brigade) claimed responsibility for that attack in a video posted online. The group reportedly said it had used 122mm Grad rockets in the attack, which it said had come in response to the Turkish attack. It also warned that it would take the battle to Turkish territory.
Meanwhile, the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces says the Arab country’s government troops are fully prepared to respond intensely to any possible Turkish offensive, amid President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s renewed threats of a new military operation in northern Syria.
“In the wake of an upsurge in attacks by Turkish military forces on Syrian territories over the past two days and shelling on different neighborhoods and a number of [Syrian] army positions, we reiterate that our valiant army is ready to confront any possible aggression by the Turkish regime and its allied militants,” Syria’s official news agency SANA cited an unnamed Syrian military source as saying in a statement.