On 16 January, three rockets targeted a Turkish military base in northern Iraq. The attack came less than 24 hours after the same base was hit by two rockets on 15 January.
A statement by the Turkish military said neither of the attacks resulted in any casualties or material damage to the Zilkan military base. It added that the soldiers at the base fired artillery rounds towards the direction where the rockets were fired from.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
The Zilkan military base, which is located some 10 kilometers outside the town of Bashiqa in Nineveh province has suffered several rocket attacks in the past.
Two rockets hit the military facility on 27 December 2021. One soldier was killed and two civilians sustained injuries when several rockets targeted the base in April 2021.
Most of these attacks have been blamed on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been engaged in an armed struggle against the government of Turkey since 1984.
The base has been a source of tension between Baghdad and Ankara. The government of Iraq considers the presence of the base and Turkish soldiers on its territory as an occupation.
It has on numerous occasions summoned Turkish diplomats in Baghdad to protest against the military operations by Ankara on Iraqi soil.
The Turkish government, however, insists that its forces are in Iraq to prevent the PKK from using the country to launch cross-border attacks into Turkey.
It says its actions are within the confines of international law which gives countries the right to self-defense.
In October 2021, the parliament of Turkey overwhelmingly voted to extend the mandate of the military by two years in order to carry out operations in Iraq and Syria.
It was the first time the mandate had been extended by two years since it was first approved in 2013. The main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) had voted against the motion, arguing that there was no proper justification for the two-year extension.
