An explosion rocked the vicinity of Sulaymaniyah airport in Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-controlled region on Friday.
The reported blast comes amid tensions with nearby Türkiye after Ankara on Wednesday closed its airspace to flights from the city, blaming increased PKK terrorist activity in the area.
Shortly after 4:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) "an explosion took place near the wall of Sulaimaniyah airport without causing any injury, but led to a fire which was brought under control by civil defence units," a statement from the airport security services said.
It added that air traffic had not been disrupted.
Local officials including the deputy premier of the Kurdistan region, Qubad Talabani, spoke of an "attack," without elaborating.
A statement from Sulaymaniyah province governor Haval Abu Bakr said the explosion was the result of "aerial bombardment" close to the airport.
He called on "all political parties to put an end to their disputes" and not turn the KRG-controlled region into a "battlefield for sort out their conflicting interests."
Türkiye on Wednesday said the freeze on air links with Sulaymaniyah would last until at least July 3 before being reviewed.
“This decision was taken within the framework of the intensification of PKK terrorist activities in Sulaymaniyah, the penetration of the terrorist group into the airport and thus posing a threat to safety of flights,” said the Foreign Ministry.
Türkiye has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats against national security and called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the PKK terrorist group.
Ankara previously noted that it would not avoid targeting terrorist threats if the expected steps were not taken. However, in the last two years, intensifying operations in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the group’s influence in these regions, Türkiye also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.
The Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq are the PKK’s stronghold, and the group is active in many nearby cities and towns. In addition, it occupies many villages in the region from where it launches attacks on Türkiye.
The announcement on Wednesday came more than a week after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Ankara, where he called on the Iraqi people to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization.
For his part, al-Sudani stressed that Iraq would not allow any terror group to use its territory for attacks on Türkiye.
