SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) President Bafel Talabani said targeting Arbat Airport is a criminal act and open trespassing of the border of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
“We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the Agricultural Airport of Arbat in Sulaymaniyah, which resulted in the martyrdom and injury of six heroic Peshmerga of the Kurdistan’s Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG),” Talabani said in a statement.
“This criminal act is an open trespassing of the border of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and is part of the conspiracy aimed at disturbing the peace and stability of the Kurdistan Region, especially the border of Sulaymaniyah province,” he said.
“In response to these repeated violations, it is the duty of all political parties in the region to face the security threats and challenges together and protect Kurdistan from its enemies,” he added.
“While expressing our deepest condolences to the families of the three heroic Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) martyrs who are martyrs of Kurdistan’s peace, I wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”
“We urgently request for these violations to stop and we also call on the Iraqi government to fulfill its constitutional and national duty to protect Iraqi territory and airspace, including the Kurdistan region, and to no longer allow these violations to happen again,” Talabani continued.
“We call on all our friends, countries of the world and all freedom fighters to take a serious stance and unite with us to stop these terrorist acts. We, Kurds, who have been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in recent years and have made great sacrifices, cannot be targeted by such terrorist acts.”
Three members of the Sulaimani-Based Counter-Terrirusm Unit (CTG) were killed and three others wounded on Monday in a drone strike on the small military airport of Arbat in the Kurdistan Region.
The drone entered Iraqi airspace through Turkey’s border, Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement early on Tuesday.
Arbat is a small airport used for helicopters and agricuatural planes located 50km (30 miles) to the east of the city of Sulaimani in the northeast of Iraq.
