Turkey bombs Iraq in response to a terrorist attack by the Kurdish PKK.

The Turkish government announced Sunday a bombing campaign consisting of airstrikes on 20 suspected strategic positions within Iraq's borders in response to a terrorist attack against Turkey's Directorate General of State Security in Ankara over the weekend. The latest bombing in Iraq follows nearly a decade in which Turkey's Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conducted airstrikes in Iraq without Baghdad's approval, angering Iraqi officials despite their mutual opposition to the PKK.

The People's Liberation Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, has claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack in Ankara. The PKK seeks an independent state for the Kurdish people who live in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The PKK maintains friendly relations with Kurdish separatist groups in Syria but has faced much rejection from Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), which condemned Sunday's attack.

The clashes between the PKK/YPG (the PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union, and the YPG, which Turkey considers an extension of the PKK in Syria) and Arab tribes in Deir ez-Zor spilled over into Manbij in Syria on September 1, 2023.

Turkish authorities said Sunday that two terrorists were planning to attack the General Directorate of Security. One of them detonated an explosive device, killing himself, and the other was "neutralized," meaning either killed or detained. They were the only victims of this terrorist attack. Authorities described the two police officers as "slightly" injured and not life-threatening as of Sunday night.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also commented on the attack, saying he had allegedly "largely solved" the country's terrorism problem, but promised, "we will not allow a terrorist group to lead politics or hinder the holy march of our country.

The PKK's armed wing confirmed its responsibility for the attack in a statement issued after the Turkish government announced the neutralization of the attack, calling the attempted suicide attack "an act of legitimate defense. "

The Turkish government carried out airstrikes on 20 locations in Iraq suspected to be supply depots and other important PKK-linked targets within 24 hours of the Ankara attack. According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, the military bombed the Iraqi regions of Hakurk, Qandil and Gara and "neutralized" PKK terrorists, without specifying the number or how many were killed. The Turkish Defense Ministry said the bombings were necessary to "eliminate terrorist attacks on our people and security forces from Northern Iraq. "

The Iraqi government has taken umbrage at the violation of the country's borders, which has been a regular occurrence since at least 2015. The office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shi'a al-Sudani expressed his displeasure on Sunday and said that such actions "categorically rejects aggression directed against Iraqi territory, stressing that such actions contradict the principles of good neighborliness and pose a threat to security and stability both within Iraq and the wider region. "