Five members of the Armed Forces of Iraqi Kurdistan were injured in two successive drone attacks within less than 48 hours in northern Iraq, regional authorities of this autonomous region indicated on Tuesday.

The authorities attributed these separate attacks to “a terrorist group,” which have not been immediately claimed and took place in this region often marked by clashes between Turkish forces and the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). “A terrorist group launched two separate drone attacks Monday and Tuesday targeting peshmerga bases,” in the northern province of Duhok, stated the Kurdistan Regional Security Council, resulting in five injuries among the peshmergas.

Kamran Othman, who works for the American organization Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) monitoring Turkish operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, confirmed the attacks but could not identify the perpetrators. He noted that the peshmerga forces were setting up a new outpost in “a sensitive area” that has long been a point of contention between the PKK and Turkish forces.

On March 1, the PKK approved the call of its historic leader, Abdullah Öcalan, to cease hostilities with Turkey and open discussions towards its dissolution, declaring a cease-fire. Classified as a terrorist by Ankara and its Western allies, the PKK separatist organization had declared armed struggle in 1984. Iraq suffers directly from the repercussions of the conflict.

The Turkish army has dozens of bases in the autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq and regularly conducts ground and air operations against the PKK, a Turkish Kurdish organization that has established its rear bases in this same region. Despite the cease-fire, skirmishes continue in several areas of northern Iraq. The Kurdistan Regional Security Council accused the perpetrators of two attacks of trying to “obstruct the peace process and the stability of the region.”