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On December 27, a rocket attack targeted a Turkish military base near the town of Zaylkan in Bashiqa district in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh.
Official Iraqi sources said that a single rocket landed near the base. However, news sources, including the Sabereen News channel on Telegram, claimed that as many as four Grad 122 mm rockets had struck the base.
No casualties or material losses were reported after the attack. From its side, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense is yet to comment on the issue.
This was not the first attack on Zaylkan base. On November 7, at least seven Grad rockets targeted the base which is located 20 kilometers to the northeast of Mosul city and more than 60 km to the northwest of Erbil city, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.
The new rocket attack was likely carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), or Iranian-backed forces as a response to Turkey’s ongoing military operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
In April, the Turkish military and security forces launched Claw-Lightning and Thunderbolt operations to neutralize the remnants of the PKK in Metina, Zap and Avashin Basyan regions of Kurdistan. Ankara claims that more than 500 fighters of the PKK have been killed, wounded or captured since the beginning of the operations.
Yet they cannot stop the attacks. The Turkish admin had the chance to solve the PKK problem but decided to invade several countries instead and exacerbate the problem for everyone.