BAGHDAD, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Foreign Ministry Sunday condemned the opening fire of the Turkish forces on civilians during a protest by Kurdish people at a Turkish military base in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
"The Foreign Ministry condemns the Turkish forces opening fire on our citizens in the Shiladze area in Duhok province," which led to the death of a one person and the wounding of several others, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it "will summon the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad to hand him over a protest note about the incident and demand that it not be repeated."
The ministry statement came following a protest by dozens of angry Kurdish people who broke into a Turkish military base in Shiladze area in Iraq's northern province of Duhok, which reportedly killed three people and injured nine others.
Some protestors set fire to tents and military vehicles and clashed with the Turkish soldiers who fired bullets into the air to disperse the crowd, according to a Kurdish security source who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Afterwards, the Turkish troops withdrew from the base to avoid casualties, leaving the Peshmerga troops to take control of the site to evacuate the protestors from the Turkish base peacefully, the source added.
The angry demonstrators were protesting the repeated airstrikes and artillery shelling on the Kurdish villages near the Iraqi-Turkish border.
Later on Saturday, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) blamed "saboteurs" for being behind the protests at a Turkish military base in Kurdistan region.
"There are saboteurs behind these events, therefore, the concerned authorities are conducting a thorough investigation and those saboteurs behind the chaos will be punished," KRG said in a statement.
The demonstrators called on the federal and regional Kurdistan governments to intervene to stop the bombing, said the official website of PUK, a major Kurdish party in which the Iraqi President Barham Salih is a leading figure.
Turkish forces frequently carry out ground operations, airstrikes and artillery bombardment against the positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq, especially the Qandil Mountains, the main base of the PKK.
