The Iraqi government has blamed Turkish forces for an attack on its citizens at a resort near the Kurdish town of Zaho in the north of the country. Turkey denied that it had launched strikes against civilians and instead claimed that its archenemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was responsible. In phone videos taken at the time of the attack, at a water park where tourists from the plains to the south had sought respite from the baking summer, the sound of what appears to be artillery can be heard. In recent months there have been frequent clashes in the region, a mountainous enclave of Iraq near the Turkish border where Turkish troops maintain bases. The Turkish military presence on Iraqi soil has long been a point of friction between Baghdad and Ankara, but Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government has facilitated the Turkish presence to help fight the PKK, which it accuses of undermining its authority. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Qadimi received some of the bodies at Baghdad airport as his anger was directed at the Iraqi capital and Karbala, the Shiite city in central Iraq where many of the victims came from. The coffins carrying the dead were draped in Iraqi flags and flown in a military aircraft, a sign of the political significance Baghdad has attached to the incident. Protesters gathered outside Turkish government buildings in both cities, angrily demanding Ankara be held accountable. Germany has called for an urgent investigation, while the US and Iran have expressed concern. Authorities in Erbil were looking into whether Turkish snipers had opened fire on the tour group after mistaking them for insurgents, whether PKK members were in the area or whether the militia itself was responsible. The PKK has a strong presence in the area, but is not known to have artillery there. Survivors said the shells started falling on Wednesday afternoon without warning. Videos showed mass panic among people as explosions rang out. A tourist, Sajad Hussain, 31, said. “At first when we got there we heard shelling in the distance but we asked a Kurd there [and] he said not to worry as there is a turkish military base nearby doing training. We were 150 meters away from the resort [when] we heard the shelling. Two of them hit the resort directly and two others were further away. “My wife was injured in the leg, but it is minor. Authorities should not allow tourists to go to these dangerous places. We are from Babil and we know nothing about the danger.”
