SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) called for investigations into an attack on Peshmerga forces on Mount Metina in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday.
On Saturday, five members of the Peshmerga forces were killed and seven others were wounded in an attack which the ministry of Peshmerga blamed on the PKK.
The ministry said the PKK fighters “ambushed” a unit of the Peshmerga forces on Mount Metina in Amedi district, northeast of Duhok.
The People’s Defense Forces (HPG) said its fighters had fired into the air to warn the Kurdish forces but they had not used the weapon to destroy their vehicle.
Footage circulated on social media showed a MRAP armored personnel carrier being destroyed on Mount Metina.
“In the early hours, the military forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] wanted to enter guerrilla area in Metina, which is wrong and won’t serve the national interests,” the HPG said in a statement on Sunday.
“It is true that our forces had fired some bullets as warning, but certainly the weapon which destroyed the vehicle was not used by our forces,” the HPG added.
“The vehicle was hit by a rocket in the air. We are declaring that a join committee or an independent delegation should investigate the incident and give explanation about the explosion of the vehicle.”
The ministry of Peshmerga said on Saturday that the PKK fighters had used light and heavy weapons in the attack.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) also said in a tweet that the PKK fighters “ambushed and attacked” a unit of the Peshmerga forces on the mountain.
The attack was condemned by the Kurdish prime minister, the Kurdistan Region’s presidency, the Iraqi presidency, and the U.S. embassy to Iraq.
Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said the incident was “tragic”, noting that the current situation “requires all of us to act responsibly in our speeches, actions and attitudes, and in this situation, we need unity, careful thinking and patience more so that the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdish nation will be protected from those dangers.”
“Now, we are all in the face of a great responsibility and our efforts must be towards the direction of solution, not complicating the situation. Let’s solve the problems wisely, caringly, responsibly and in a Kurdish way,” he said.
The Region’s deputy premier hoped all sides act wisely and intelligently to prevent the repetition of another tragic incident.
