Two Iraqi civilians were killed Sunday in Turkish bombing of border areas with Turkey while they were on tourism in the Zakho district in Iraqi Kurdistan, a local official announced, about a week before a regional conference hosted by Baghdad, in which Turkey is supposed to participate.

This comes days after eight people were killed in a Turkish bombing of a hospital in Sinjar (northwest Iraq), which received a PKK member, the day after a similar bombing targeted a car in the city center, in which three Yazidi fighters in the 80th Regiment of the Popular Mobilization were killed.

The bombings are taking place as part of a Turkish military operation in the border areas to pursue the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is based in the mountains in northern Iraq as its rear bases from which it launches attacks against Ankara.

Farhad Mahmoud, director of the Yativa district, where the bombing took place, said in a press conference that "two Iraqi tourists were killed as a result of the Turkish bombing in Bativa district in Zakho district." One of them is forty years old and the other is 26 years old.

He added that "the tourists from the city of Mosul and headed to tourist areas after the crossing points of the Asayish forces (Kurdish internal security forces), and apparently reached the areas that are considered prohibited (security) and were subjected to Turkish bombardment and died."

He said that "their bodies will be returned."

Clashes are still continuing on Sunday between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, according to the PKK.

Many border villages have been evacuated from their residents and orchards and agricultural lands have been burned, especially since the Turkish Operation Claw of Lightning began on April 23.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied on Saturday evening that the Turkish air raid that killed eight people on Tuesday targeted a hospital, saying that it had hit the base of a rebel group affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

Erdogan said in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi that "contrary to the terrorist organization's claims, the targeted site is not a hospital or a health center, but rather one of the organization's shelters," according to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency.

For his part, the Iraqi National Security Council headed by Al-Kazemi condemned, in a statement on Wednesday afternoon, “unilateral military actions that harm the principles of good neighborliness,” expressing its refusal to “use Iraqi lands to settle scores from any party,” without mentioning Turkey, or the Kurdistan Workers' Party in particular.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received an invitation to participate in a regional conference organized in Baghdad at the end of August, in addition to a number of leaders of other neighboring countries, but it is not yet clear whether Ankara's military operations in northern Iraq will be discussed or not.

Al-Arabiya