"The clashes started when a military vehicle belonging to the Sinjar protection units wanted to cross from a border area between the Kurdistan region and Kurdistan, Syria, where they were shot by Iraqi forces", the governor of Sinjar, Mahma Khalil, told the Kurdish Rudaw broadcaster on Sunday.
According to him, as a result of the incident, two PKK militants were killed and three injured. A source told the broadcaster that the incident took place near the town of Snuny close to the Iraqi-Syrian border.
According to the Iraqi News media outlet, the skirmish left a Kurdish fighter dead and two others wounded. A source told the media outlet that an Iraqi serviceman was also killed in the clash, while four others were wounded.
READ MORE: Turkish Forces 'Neutralize' 7 PKK Militants in Northern Iraq — Reports
The Turkish Defence Ministry has said, cited by Iraqi News, that two Turkish soldiers were killed earlier on Saturday and eight others were wounded in clashes with Kurdistan Workers’ Party militants in northern Iraq.
Sinjar, near the border with Syria, was one of the first areas to be recaptured by the the Kurdish militia from Daesh in 2015 during a US-backed campaign to drive the terrorist group out of vast areas they briefly controlled in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish security forces regularly carry out anti-PKK raids across the country, conducting airstrikes against the group in northern Iraq as well. According to Turkish authorities, over 10,000 PKK members have died in the fighting since 2015.
READ MORE: Turkish Authorities Reportedly Detain 11 PKK Members in Ankara
Baghdad has repeatedly condemned and rejected Turkish airstrikes and anti-PKK raids in northern Iraq and Kurdistan, stressing that the military actions harm the spirit of neighborliness between Iraq and Turkey.
*Daesh (aka IS/ISIS/Islamic State) is a terror group banned in Russia and many other countries.
