Iraq condemns Turkey ground incursion as 'clear violation'
Iraq has condemned Turkey for dispatching special forces into its soil in reported pursuit of Kurdish militants, calling it a "clear violation" of its territory.
The Iraqi "foreign ministry expresses its condemnation of the incursion of a number of Turkish military units inside Iraqi territory," spokesman Ahmed Jamal said in a statement on Thursday.
"It represents a clear violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a clear offense to bilateral relations between the two countries," he said.
Two units of the special forces crossed into northern Iraq on Tuesday after at least 14 Turkish police officers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the eastern province of Igdir the same day and 16 Turkish soldiers died in twin roadside bombings in the southeastern Hakkari region last Sunday.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said 150 Turkish troops have entered northern Iraq with the aim of "destroying" two dozen militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Ankara launched airstrikes against the PKK positions in Iraq and Turkey as well as purported Daesh targets in Syria after a deadly July 20 bomb attack attributed to Daesh terrorists left 32 people dead in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc, across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani.
A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish airstrikes against the group.
The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since the 1984. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.
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