Drone strike kills 4 PKK fighters in Iraqi Kurdistan: security

• Kurdish sources say four PKK fighters killed in drone strike.
• Drone attack targeted vehicle belonging to PKK fighters in Kalar.
• No claim of responsibility for drone strike on Kalar has been made.

According to Kurdish sources, four fighters from Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed in a drone strike done by Turkey in Iraq’s remote region on Friday.

Turkish army drones targeted a “vehicle belonging to PKK fighters” in the city of Kalar, the anti-terrorist squad in Iraqi Kurdistan said in a statement.

It killed “four people and wounded a fifth person”.

Read more: Iraq summons Turkey envoy in protest at Kurdistan offensive

Earlier, medical and security officials stated that the unclaimed drone strike had killed three people. Whereas, one more had been seriously wounded.

The drone strike on Kalar had no immediate claims. However, the attack comes two months after Turkey launched an air and ground offensive in northern Iraq targeting separatist PKK bases and training camps.

Designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, the PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Read more: Armed drone attack in Irbil, Iraq

Following the Kalar drone attack, Without explicitly denying the drone strikes, Turkey’s defence ministry said it had neutralized “six PKK terrorists” in the area of its military operation.

Questioned by AFP, however, a ministry spokesman said “Kalar is much farther south” than that area.