Baghdad: Turkish airstrikes on Friday, according to Kurdish-led armed groups in Iraq and Syria, claimed the lives of eight of their fighters.
Four members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, were killed and another was injured in a Turkish drone strike in the Sharbazher district of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish region of Iraq, according to a statement from the regional government's counterterrorism unit.
It claimed that a PKK fighter-carrying vehicle was the target of a drone attack close to Rangina village.
A Turkish drone attack on the village of Khirbet Khwei in the Amuda region resulted in the deaths of four of the Syrian Democratic Forces' fighters, according to a statement released by the group on Friday. The group is led by Kurds and controls much of northeastern Syria.
Turkiye was charged with "aiming to undermine security and stability in the region" in the statement.
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Turkiye did not respond right away when asked about the strikes.
The most recent episode of the months-long escalation of violence between Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq and groups with Turkish and Turkish-backed support.
Kurdish militants have been a source of conflict for Turkiye for years, and sizable Kurdish populations can be found in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, where they enjoy some measure of autonomy. Turkiye views the largest Kurdish militia in northeast Syria as a PKK foe. For many years, Turkiye has been the target of an insurgency by the PKK.
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The Iraqi government has taken offence at Turkish attacks in northern Iraq and has denounced them as a breach of its sovereignty.
The PKK's activities and Turkish attacks in the Kurdish region are likely to come up during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's upcoming visit to Iraq.
