Turkish drone kills two Kurdish journalists in northern Iraq, officials say
Two Kurdish journalists have been killed in northern Iraq after their vehicle was struck by a Turkish drone.
Gulistan Tara and Hero Bahadin were driving in the Seyidsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah province on Friday when their vehicle, which was owned by the CHATR production company, was hit.
The two were on assignment for Sterk TV, a Kurdish-language channel founded in Norway in 2009.
Kemal Heme Reza, general manager of CHATR, said in a statement that “the Turkish state undoubtedly carried out this attack" while accusing local officials of coordinating the targeting of the journalists with Turkey.
An Iraqi security official also told AFP on condition of anonymity that they were struck by a "drone likely belonging to the Turkish army".
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The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) counter-terrorism service said a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), his driver and a guard were also killed in the attack.
However, KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani disputed this, describing Friday's strike as an "unjustifiable crime" and a "flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
Scores of civilians killed
Turkey has intensified its activities in northern Iraq in recent years, targeting what it says are members of the PKK, an armed group at war with the Turkish state.
Monitoring groups say hundreds of villages in northern Iraq have been evacuated as a result of Turkish military operations, while scores of civilians have been killed.
However, the defence ministry in Ankara told AFP it was "not the Turkish army" that carried out the strike on Friday.
The deaths came just over a month after another journalist, Murad Mirza Ibrahim - an employee with the Kurdish media outlet Cira TV - was also killed in a drone strike.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the killings, saying that the KRG was becoming an increasingly hostile environment for journalists as a result of Turkish drone strikes and increased repression from authorities.
“With three media workers killed in just two months, the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan is becoming one of the most dangerous areas in the world for reporters," said Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF's Middle East desk.
"The Turkish authorities must be held accountable: the denial from the Turkish Ministry of Defence is insufficient. Kurdish journalists must be safe and justice must be served for Hero Bahaden and Golistan Tara," he said.
Iraqi officials have regularly condemned attacks by Turkey on Iraqi soil as violations of sovereignty - however, both Baghdad and some officials in the KRG have also deepened security coordination with their northern neighbour in recent months.
Earlier in August, Turkey agreed to a military cooperation pact with Baghdad that will see joint training and command centres to combat Kurdish guerrillas, while the government declared the PKK a "banned organisation" in March.
The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), a left-wing, pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, also condemned the attack.
“We know very well that targeting a vehicle carrying journalists was a deliberate and organised attack," it said in a statement.
"By targeting female journalists who exposed attacks on the Kurdish people and women in the [KRG], an attempt was made to cover up war crimes committed in the region.”
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