Iraq arrests three suspects linked to PKK over sabotage attacks and arson

They are also accused of planning attack on a key oil export pipeline in the north of the country

PKK soldiers at Mahsun Korkmaz Academy military training camp. Getty Images

Iraq has arrested three suspects linked to the outlawed militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), accusing them of sabotage attacks, the country’s Interior Ministry announced.

Ministry spokesman Moqdad Miri said the suspects were behind the fires that struck markets and shopping centres in 2023 and 2024 in the northern cities of Kirkuk, Erbil and Dohuk.

One was arrested at the end of May and “chemical products” that were used to start the fires were found in his vehicle, Mr Miri said.

“The entity responsible for execution … is the PKK organisation, a banned organisation,” he said.

Hemin Mirany, a senior official in Kurdistan's Interior Ministry, revealed the identity of two of the suspects, saying they belonged to the local Peshmerga's Unit 70 forces, which are affiliated to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – one of the two ruling parties in the Kurdistan region.

The two men were “recruited” by the PKK and were “trained by fighters coming from Turkey and Syria in particular”, he added.

The other suspect was an “officer in the anti-terrorist services of Sulaimaniyah”, Mr Mirany said, referring to the Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) run by the PUK.

Two people were injured on Tuesday in a car explosion in Sulaimaniyah's Raparin neighbourhood.

“A white Kia Sportage vehicle exploded today at 11.30am, injuring two people. The cause of the explosion is unknown," Sulaimaniyah's security forces said in a statement.

Erbil-based Kurdistan Counter Terrorism Directorate said the two injured people are members of Tavgari Azadi, a group affiliated to the PKK. Reuters also cited security sources saying both were PKK members.

One security source sad the explosion was caused by a bomb attached to the car.

Sulaimaniyah, the Kurdistan region's second city, is ruled by the PUK which has been at loggerheads with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the past years.

In the last year, the PUK has outspoken of its support of the PKK, garnering criticism from Turkey which labels the group as a terrorist organisation.

While neither Mr Mirany nor Mr Miri mentioned the PUK by name, the party's representative denied any involvement in the arson incidents.

The three suspects are also accused of planning attacks across the country, including on a key oil export pipeline in the north, the interior ministry spokesman said.

“An investigation showed that these PKK members had plans to attack the Ceyhan oil pipeline linking Kirkuk, Erbil and Duhok to Turkey,” he added.

They confessed to setting sabotage fires at commercial markets in the Kurdistan region and in the city of Kirkuk over the past few months, leading to financial losses of about $300 million, he said.

Mr Mirany said the suspects had received orders from the PKK as a part of a wider campaign to attack the commercial interests of a “neighbouring state”, he added in reference to Turkey. He also accused them of seeking to “impact the security and economic situation” of the autonomous Kurdistan region.

A PKK guerilla shoots an AK-47 assault rifle during a patrol through a mountain pass along the Iraq-Iran border in the mountains of northern Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region. AFP

The PKK rebel group has bases in northern Iraq, from which it has launched attacks against Turkey in a decades-long push to gain greater autonomy for the Kurdish people.

The conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK in Iraq escalated in the 1990s, when Turkey launched several ground operations in northern Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War.

Since then, Ankara has launched several military operations in Iraq against the group. These operations have been expanded in recent years in northern Iraq with military troops on the ground backed by air strikes and artillery.

In a statement issued late on Monday, the PKK's political bureau “rejected” what it said were “baseless allegations”.

It called on “the Iraqi state and the ministry of the interior to act responsibly in the face of directives coming from Turkish intelligence” and to “identify the real perpetrators” of the fires.

In March, Baghdad listed the PKK as a “banned organisation” though Ankara has called on the Iraqi government to do more in the fight against the militant group.