FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers seen at the border town of Akcakale © Reuters / Murad Sezer
Early on February 3, a rocket attack targeted a Turkish military base located near the town of Zaylkan in Bashiqa district in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh.
Several news sources reported that 18 Grad rockets hit the base and its vicinity. One of these sources, the Sabereen News channel on Telegram, claimed that more than a dozen Turkish service members were killed or wounded as a result of the rocket attack. The Turkish Ministry of National Defense is yet to confirm or deny this.
Right after the attack, Iraqi security forces found the improvised launcher that fired the rockets in the outskirts of the city of Mosul.
در حمله به پایگاه ارتش رژیم اشغالگر ترکیه در منطقه زلیکان، از راکت های 122 میلی متری BM-21 (گراد) استفاده شده است. https://t.co/6NgSFF2Ul8 pic.twitter.com/tR2pYPnt9L
— BAHOZ (@Bahoz_chiya) February 3, 2022
A mysterious group calling itself Ahrar Sinjar claimed responsibility for the rocket attack. In a statement, the group said that the attack was a response to recent Turkish airstrikes on northern Iraq. The group vowed that its attacks on Turkish forces will continue until Ankara cease its military operations in the country.
“We will respond to fire with fire, and to blood with blood,” the group’s statements’ reads.
Zaylkan base was targeted on several occasions in the last few months. This was, however, the first time a group took credit for an attack on the Turkish base.
Ahrar Sinjar may be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the main target of Turkish operations in northern Iraq, or pro-Iranian forces, who have been growing frustrated with Turkey’s provocations in the country.
Iraqi state is such a castrated pathetic regime to allow it’s sovereignty to be violated constantly by both US and Erdoganistan.
I totally agree with you
to me it doesn’t matter who attacks Turkish soldiers, as long as the Turks leave Iraq