Ankara on Offensive? Baghdad Slams Turkey for Bombing Iraqi Village

Baghdad sharply criticized Turkish armed forces for the recent bombardment of its village in the northern part of the country and demanded that Ankara should withdraw its military from the Iraqi territory, media reported.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Nasir Nouri accused Ankara of violating Iraq's sovereignty and called for the Turkish forces to withdraw from the Iraqi territory without any preconditions.

Earlier this week, Turkish aircraft carried out a series of airstrikes in an Iraqi village in the Kurdistan region. The military operation was a part of Ankara's efforts to eliminate militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which the Turkish government views as terrorists.

Turkey intensified its military operations against Kurdish militants and Daesh terrorists after a series of terrorist attacks that hit the country since July 20, 2015 and claimed the lives of many civilians.

On December 4, Turkey unilaterally deployed 150 soldiers and 25 tanks in northern Iraq near Mosul without authorization from Baghdad. The de-facto "invasion" was carried out under the pretext of war against Daesh and counterterrorism training of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Baghdad sharply criticized the intervention of Turkish forces and urged Ankara to immediately withdraw its troops from the region, a request that the Turkish government has not met so far.