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Turkey says it will continue attacks on PKK after Iraqi border guards killed

A Turkish drone strike targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party left two Iraqi border guards and their driver dead on Tuesday.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY NICOLAS CHEVIRON Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) rebels man a security checkpoint on October 28, 2009 near a PKK base in the Qandil mountains, near Rania province, in northern Iraq. From their bases in northern Iraq, the Kurdish guerilla movement is defying recent overtures of the Turkish government to reconcile with Turkey's 15 million Kurds, saying it is ready to wage a 50-year war against Ankara.                   AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels man a security checkpoint on October 28, 2009, near a PKK base in the Qandil Mountains, near Rania province, in northern Iraq. — MUSTAFA OZER/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey vowed to continue fighting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq a day after a Turkish drone strike targeting the group killed Iraqi border guards.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it wants Iraqi cooperation against the PKK but is prepared to act unilaterally.

“Our country is ready to cooperate with Iraq in this regard,” read a statement published by the state-run Anadolu Agency. “However, if the PKK presence in Iraq continues to be tolerated, Turkey is determined to take the necessary measures for the security of its borders, wherever it may be.”

On Tuesday, a Turkish drone strike killed two Iraqi border guards and their driver in the Bradost area of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Bradost is a mountainous area close to the Turkish border. The strike targeted a meeting between the border officials and PKK fighters. Kurdish peshmerga forces control the Kurdistan Region, but federal Iraqi forces have a presence near the border.

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