SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United Kingdom on Wednesday condemned the Arbat airport drone strike that left three members of a Kurdish counter-terrorism unit dead.
The UK condemns the 18 Sept attack at Arbat airport in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. We extend condolences to the victims and those affected. We are committed to supporting Iraq’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity – and improving the regional security environment.
— Stephen Hitchen FCDO (@SCHitchenFCDO) September 20, 2023
Three members of the Sulaimani-based counter-terrorism unit,known as (CTG) were killed and three others wounded on Monday in a drone strike on the small military airport of Arbat in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
The drone entered Iraqi airspace through Turkey’s border, Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement early on Tuesday.
Turkey on Tuesday also claimed that the Syrian-based Kurdish group fighters, the People Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were presented at the airport.
Ankara further claimed that the CTG were in the midst of training of the YPG/PKK fighters during the attack, without saying whether it was behind the attack or not.
Turkey regularly carries out air strikes that it says target Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, and has dozens of outposts in Iraqi territory.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
However, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani on Wednesday denied claims regarding the presence of any forces inside the Arbat drone strike except for the Sulaimani-based Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTG).
“The martyrs and wounded of the Arbat drone strike were only the heroic Peshmerga members of the Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG),” Qubad Talabani said during a meeting with the Head of the European Union’s Liaison Office in Erbil, Torkild Byg.
“There were no other forces inside the Arbat airport during the drone strike except for the CTG,” he added.
“This is a dangerous development in which an official force of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq has been targeted,” he continued.
