Iraq summons Iranian envoy in protest of border strikes

By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AA) – Iraq on Thursday summoned Iran's ambassador in Baghdad to protest Iranian artillery shelling along border areas, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

At the ministry, Ambassador Iraj Masjedi was handed a protest note over artillery strikes that targeted border villages in the Erbil province of northern Iraq.

The statement urged Tehran to respect Iraq's sovereignty, demanding it stop such strikes and instead seek cooperation in controlling their shared borders.

Iran’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday said in a statement that it targeted militant groups of Iran’s Kurdish Komala party and Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party in mountainous areas along the border with Iraq.

Iran classifies both parties as terrorist groups.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara