Iraq summons Iranian ambassador over bombardment in northern Iraq

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad and handed him a letter of protest over the artillery shelling in northern Iraq.

A statement by the ministry said that it has summoned Iraj Masjedi to protest the artillery bombardment to border villages in Haji Omran area in northern Iraq on June 16.

The Iranian shelling resulted in material losses and damages of properties in the villages, the statement said.

The ministry condemned those acts, and confirmed the importance that Iran has to respect the sovereignty of Iraq, stop carrying out such acts, and cooperate with Iraq to control the security and stability on the common borders, according to the statement.

During the day, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry also summoned Turkish ambassador to Baghdad for the second time in two days to hand him a letter of protest over the ongoing attacks on positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

Iranian and Turkish forces frequently attack the military bases of their Kurdish opposition parties in the mountainous area in Kurdistan in northern and northeastern Iraq as they accuse the Kurdish opposition of carrying out attacks back in their homes from the Iraqi Kurdish region.