Iraq has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the Turkish artillery attack on a resort in Zakho. The Iraqi military has also presented Baghdad with evidence of Ankara's responsibility.
Iraq has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Turkish aggression against the country. This was announced by the spokesman of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, in Baghdad on Saturday. The reason is the bombing of a holiday resort in a village near Zakho in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which killed nine people last Wednesday, July 20, including a one-year-old toddler. At least 23 others were injured, some seriously.
The UN Security Council is already dealing with a previous complaint by Iraq about the attack. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had also called for an urgent investigation into the artillery fire. According to unconfirmed reports, the body is to meet as early as next week for an emergency session. The meeting is expected to be held behind closed doors. It is up to Brazil, which holds the Security Council presidency in July, to confirm the date.
Also on Saturday, the Iraqi parliament held an emergency session attended by Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, Defence Minister Juma Inad and several senior military commanders to discuss the bombing of Iraqi areas. The deputy commander of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir al-Shammari, presented a report to parliament that the bombing of the resort in Zakho was carried out by Turkish-made 155 mm shells.
Iraq had already accused Turkey of the artillery attack early on, while the government in Ankara denied involvement. "We have collected the remains of the shells on the ground and had them examined by experts in Baghdad. We can say with the utmost probability that this attack was carried out by the Turkish state. The launch site of the shells is seven kilometers away from the target of the attack," al-Shammari said in parliament.
The Turkish military presence in Iraq was also discussed at the emergency meeting. According to Chief of General Staff Abdel Emir Rashid Yarallah, Ankara operates about one hundred bases on Iraqi territory or in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where about 4,000 soldiers are stationed. Five of these bases are air bases and bases of departure, the largest of which are in Zelkan and Mosul. At the meeting, it was decided to set up a joint commission of enquiry between government authorities and the military to investigate the attack in Zakho.
