Iraqi Interior Ministry on Monday announced that perpetrators of major fires in the cities of Kirkuk, Irbil and Duhok were members of PKK, a terrorist group for Türkiye and a banned organization in Iraq.

Miqdad Miri, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, told reporters at a news conference in Baghdad that three people arrested over bazaar fires in the cities were members of PKK. All three cities are situated in a region governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Miri was accompanied by representatives of KRG at the news conference.

He said an investigative committee was formed upon orders of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sodani following the fires and they captured three people, two in Kirkuk and one in Diyala, in operations coordinated with KRG’s Interior Ministry.

Miri said perpetrators confessed that they planned to set more fires elsewhere, adding that they also plotted to sabotage the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline between Iraq and Türkiye, as well as two commercial districts in Baghdad. He said they are currently remanded in custody.

Arson suspicions arose after a famous bazaar in Irbil caught fire twice within two months. In April, the same month as the second fire in Irbil, a massive fire hit Duhok’s Chale bazaar. One month later, an Ottoman-era bazaar in Kirkuk caught fire, raising suspicions of arson again as it erupted in the different parts of the marketplace at the same time. "Their purpose was to hit the commercial interests of one of the countries they are opposing directly," Miri said, in reference to Türkiye and to "impact the economy and security situation in the provinces directly and create a state of discontent among the people."

PKK’s senior cadres are holed up in mountainous territories in the KRG-controlled region. Türkiye seeks cooperation from Baghdad and KRG for its counterterrorism operations in the country against the terrorist group that has killed thousands of people in Türkiye since the 1980s.