Turkey targets Iraq region after killing

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurdish rebel targets in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region after the killing of a Turkish diplomat there, state-run media quoted Turkey’s defense minister as saying Friday.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkish jets on Thursday hit the Qandil mountains region in northern Iraq, where the leadership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party is reported to be based. A Defense Ministry statement said airstrikes were also conducted Friday against alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party targets in Iraq’s Karajak region.

Akar said the offensive was launched after an employee of the Turkish Consulate in the city of Irbil was killed along with an Iraqi national in a gun attack at a Turkish-owned restaurant in the city Wednesday. The diplomat has been identified as Osman Kose.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting although suspicion fell on Kurdish militants.

In Irbil, a statement issued by security forces said the lead suspect in the investigation was a 27-year-old who hails from Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.

The statement did not give further details, but said the suspect was already wanted by security agencies in Iraq’s Kurdish region.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency claimed that two of the suspect’s siblings were alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party militants and that a third was a legislator from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party.