BAGHDAD (Halbeeg News) – Turkey’s foreign ministry says one Turkish consulate “employee” has been killed in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq.
Security sources earlier told Al Jazeera that at least three Turkish security personnel were killed in Wednesday’s attack.
Among those reported shot dead was the Turkish deputy council-general.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, citing security sources, said the incident took place in the upscale neighborhood of Ankawa.
“They were shot at point-blank range by unknown assailants,” Bin Javaid reported from Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.
“So far we do not know what was the motive behind the attack and no one has claimed responsibility but security forces are saying that these people knew exactly who they wanted to target and how they wanted to target them,” he said.
Security forces rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area.
In recent weeks, Turkey has been carrying out cross-border operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq.
The PKK has been fighting against the Turkish state in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey since the 1980s and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
It is designated a “terrorist” group by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.
Source: ALJAZEERA ENGLISH
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