BAGHDAD: At least one gunman killed the Turkish vice-consul to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region in an attack on Wednesday in the regional capital of Arbil, a police source told AFP. “Three people, including the Turkish vice consul, were killed in an armed attack targeting the consul and the consulate’s employees in a restaurant in Arbil,” the source said, adding the attackers had fled the scene. Turkey confirmed that an “employee” at its Arbil consulate was killed in a shooting. Turkey is waging a major military offensive in Iraq’s mountainous northern region to root out pockets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK, seen as a “terrorist” group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and operates rear bases in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Source: Pakistan Today July 17, 2019 13:18 UTC