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Nujaba slams Iraqi government’s silence on deadly Turkish strikes

Thursday, 09 September 2021 8:47 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 09 September 2021 8:58 AM ]

Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jets

The al-Nujaba movement, which is part of the anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, has censured the Iraqi government for keeping mum on the deadly air raids conducted by Turkish warplanes on the Arab country.

In a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday, Nujaba spokesman Nasr al-Shammari said Turkish raids killed 26 Iraqi soldiers and civilians only in August.

He added that the victims included 23 in the city of Duhok, two in Sulaimaniyah and one in Erbil, all situated in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

“All these incidents are taking place in the shadow of a suspicious silence by the government and politicians,” Shammari noted.

Last month, the Nujaba spokesman warned Ankara that the Islamic resistance group does not differentiate between Turkish and American occupation forces in protecting Iraq’s territorial integrity and confronting the aggressors.

“We in the Islamic resistance do not look at Turkey with the same view that we look at the United States except on the issue of the occupation of Iraq’s territory,” he tweeted.

Iraq’s Nujaba: No differentiation between Turkey, US in resistance against occupiers

Iraq’s al-Nujaba Movement has warned Ankara that the Islamic resistance group does not differentiate between Turkish and American occupation forces in protecting the Arab country’s territorial integrity and confronting the aggressors.

The Turkish army regularly conducts airstrikes on outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in southeast Turkey as well as northern Syria and Iraq. Both neighboring countries view Ankara's operations as a violation of their sovereignty.

The Turkish attacks have prompted Baghdad to summon Ankara’s ambassador several times. Iraq has also warned that it has the means of confronting Ankara’s aggression.

Turkey, however, accuses Iraq of tolerating the PKK presence on its soil and has pledged to sustain its aerial assaults.

The PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. Ever since, more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

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