Iraqi defence minister arrives in Turkey after PKK bomb attack in Ankara

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read
5
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Turkish Police take cover as an unexploded bomb is detonated in front of the Interior Ministry following a bomb attack in Ankara

ANKARA (Reuters) -Iraqi Defence Minister Thabet al-Abbasi arrived in Ankara on Wednesday, Iraqi state news agency (INA) said, and Turkish media said he would meet his Turkish counterpart, Yasar Guler.

Turkey carried out air strikes in northern Iraq on targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after it said it orchestrated the first bomb attack in Ankara in years.

On Sunday morning, two attackers detonated a bomb near government buildings in Ankara, killing them both and wounding two police officers. The PKK claimed responsibility.

Iraq denounced the Turkish air strikes and Iraqi President Abdul-Latif Rashid said he hoped to come to an agreement with Ankara to try to solve the problem.

Turkey regards the PKK as a terrorist group and regularly carries out air strikes in northern Iraq, which has long been outside the direct control of the Baghdad government.

Turkey has also sent commandos and set up military bases on Iraqi territory to support its offensives.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Yomna Ehab; Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Macfie)