Filenews 5 June 2021
An airstrike against a refugee camp in Iraq was carried out by Turkey, days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened a military strike on Iraqi soil.
At least three people were killed and several others injured, according to a Kurdish official.
The camp is home to thousands of Kurdish refugees from Turkey.
An Iraqi security official confirmed there were casualties, without giving further details.
More and more frequent attacks
Turkish forces have stepped up their attacks on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq over the past year, focusing their firepower and incursions on Iraqi territory mainly on a strip of territory up to 30km inside Iraq.
On Tuesday, Tayyip Erdogan said the camp Mahmur, would be the largest in the world. south of the Turkish border that has accepted hundreds of Turkish refugees for more than two decades, is a "nursery" for militants and needs to be addressed.
"If the United Nations does not clean it up, we will do so as a member of the UN," the Turkish president said, adding that Ankara believes Mahmur poses a major threat as the PKK stronghold in the Cantil Mountains further north. "How long are we supposed to be patient?" he told the state-run TRT network.
A senior Iraqi official told Reuters news agency that Turkey protested last week in Baghdad over "terrorist acts unleashed by the PKK from its camp in Mahmur against Turkey."
Security commanders and local officials investigated the Turkish accusations and told the government that the Mahmour camp is under the control of PKK militants who do not allow access to government forces, the official said.
The camp was created in the 1990s, when thousands of Kurds from Turkey crossed the border in a move Ankara says was deliberately provoked by the PKK.
Mahmur was targeted by Turkish airstrikes a year ago, although there were no reports of casualties at the time, but a Turkish high-ranking official said it was now a priority for Ankara.
