Peshmerga Warns Iraq Against Future Airstrikes Against Kurdish Targets

Kurdish Party Offices Believed Targeted in Strike on Tuz Kharmato

An afternoon air strike conducted by an Iraqi fighter jet pounded the Kurdish-held city of Tuz Khormato, killing a 12-year-old girl and wounding several other civilians. The bomb landed just outside of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) office in the city.

The PUK office was not hit, but two homes in the immediate vicinity were destroyed in the strike. Kurdish officials say they believe the PUK office was the intended target.

South of Kirkuk, Tuz Khormato is disputed right now, with Kurdish forces holding the city, which has both a significant Kurdish population and a lot of Turkomen Shi’ites. It is basically the frontier between Kurdish-held territory and the Iraqi central government’s remaining holdings.

The Kurdistan government’s Peshmerga forces issued a statement after the strike warning the central government not to attack any Kurdish territory, or target any Kurdish forces, adding that they want Baghdad to immediately address the incident. So far, the Maliki government has remained silent on the issue.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.