Turkey denies, Kuwait condemns Dohuk attack

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KUWAIT CITY, July 21, (Agencies): Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry condemned Thursday the attack on the Iraqi city of Dohuk, which resulted in the death of several people, and utterly rejected any assault on Iraq’s sovereignty as an unequivocal breach of international law. In a statement, the foreign ministry also expressed condolences to the people and government of Iraq and to the families of the victims, wishing those injured a swift recovery.

Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday rejected accusations that the country’s military carried out deadly artillery strikes on tourists in northern Iraq, as the families of those killed laid their dead to rest. In an in an interview with Turkish state broadcaster TRT, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey was willing to cooperate with Iraqi authorities to shed light on the “treacherous attack.” “According to the information we received from the Turkish Armed Forces, we did not conduct any attack against civilians,” Cavusoglu said. “Our fight in Iraq has always been against the (banned Kurdistan Workers Party) PKK terrorist organization.” “We reject the accusations that have been leveled against Turkey before the smoke screen has been lifted,” Cavusoglu said, adding that Turkey believed the attack was aimed at preventing Turkish military operations in the region.

“Iraqi authorities must not fall into this trap,” he said. Caskets carrying the bodies of those killed in artillery strikes on Wednesday were transported from the semi-autonomous Kurdish-run northern region to the capital, Baghdad, for burial. At least four artillery shells struck the resort area of Barakh in the Zakho district in the Kurdish region. Iraq’s military said eight people were killed in the attack, but nine caskets were loaded onto the military plane on Thursday.

Over 20 people were wounded. The region’s President Nechirvan Barzani laid a wreath over one casket and helped carry it on board the military plane. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein was also present. In Baghdad, Prime Minister Mustafa al- Kadhimi received the dead at the airport and met with the families of those killed, according to a statement from his office. He offered his condolences and promised to follow up on their condition and of the wounded, providing them with medical care. All of the casualties were Iraqi citizens. A child was among the victims.

The incident is testing ties between Iraq and Turkey – two countries that share deep economic ties but are divided over security issues related to Kurdish insurgents operating in Iraq, oil trading with the Kurdish region and water-sharing. The Turkish Embassy in Iraq announced on its Facebook page that visa appointments had been cancelled for the day. A small protest broke out in the former headquarters of the Turkish mission in the Baghdad neighborhood of Waziriah. The Iraqi government earlier on Wednesday decided to recall the Charge d’Affaires of the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara in protest at the Turkish artillery bombing of Zakho resort, in Dohuk province, in the northern region of Kurdistan

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