Turkish base in northern Iraq targeted in rocket attack

A Turkish military base in northern Iraq was targeted in a rocket attack on Saturday, according to Iraqi media. 

Three rockets were reportedly fired at the Zilkan base near Mosul, a key site for Ankara and its ongoing operations in Iraq.

However, all three rockets missed their target, Shafaq news reported local official Mohammad Amin as saying.

"Three rockets were fired during the attack; two of which landed in the vicinity of the base and the third inside the Omar Qabji village," an anonymous source quoted by the Iraqi website said.

Reports did not say who was responsible for the attack or whether anyone was hurt or killed. 

Turkey’s operations in Iraq are framed by Ankara as an effort to stamp out Kurdish extremism; namely, to weaken the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it says threatens Turkish security. 

However, Baghdad has slammed the continued presence of Turkish troops on its soil, saying foreign military activities infringe on Iraq’s sovereignty. 

Since the 1980s, Ankara has launched a series of military operations in northern Iraq, both in areas under Baghdad’s authority and in the autonomous Kurdistan region. This includes Operation Claw-Lock, which began in April and was defended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a campaign against "terrorist elements". 

Erdogan also threatened a new military incursion into northern Syria this year, again on the pretext of protecting Turkish security.