Members of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) killed two Iraqi border guards on Friday during an exchange of gunfire near the Turkish border in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, according to Iraq’s interior ministry.
The incident took place in the Zakho district, which lies near the frontier with Turkey. The border guards were performing routine patrols when they came under attack. According to a statement from Iraq’s interior ministry, the PKK militants opened fire on the guards as they were securing the Iraqi-Turkish border.
The deadly encounter resulted in the deaths of two guards and left one more wounded. The ministry confirmed that, following the attack, Iraqi forces launched a search operation in the area. Iraqi forces killed two PKK members involved in the assault during the pursuit.
An official from the border guard unit told AFP that the guards were patrolling a village near the border when the violence broke out. He described the incident as involving both “shooting and clashes” with the PKK militants.
The PKK, a Kurdish separatist group, has been waging an insurgency against Turkey for several decades, seeking greater autonomy for Kurds. The group maintains several positions in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which also hosts Turkish military bases. These bases are used by Turkey to carry out operations targeting PKK insurgents.
Iraq’s central government in Baghdad has been coordinating with the Kurdish authorities in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including its military forces, known as the Peshmerga, to secure the shared border. Despite this cooperation, tensions have risen between Baghdad and the PKK. The Iraqi government recently listed the PKK as a banned organization, responding to increasing pressure from Turkey, which has long criticized Iraq for not taking stronger action against the group. Turkey, alongside the United States, designates the PKK as a terrorist organization.
In the past year, Turkey has conducted numerous military strikes on PKK positions in Iraq’s Kurdistan region as part of its ongoing effort to eliminate the insurgent group.
The deadly incident on Friday adds to the ongoing instability in the region, where the PKK continues to operate despite efforts from both the Iraqi and Turkish governments to curtail its activities.
