Iraqi protesters say Turkish drone strike killed two journalists

Several dozen protesters gathered in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Saturday to denounce a deadly drone strike attributed to Turkey that killed two female journalists. The attack, which took place on Friday, claimed the lives of 40-year-old Gulistan Tara, a Kurdish journalist from Turkey, and 27-year-old Hero Bahadin, an Iraqi Kurdish video editor, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). One other person was injured in the attack.

Both an Iraqi security source and the anti-terror service in Erbil, the region's capital, pointed to Turkey as the perpetrator. However, the Turkish Defense Ministry denied responsibility for the bombing.

At the protest rally in Sulaimaniya, the second largest city in the Kurdish region, about 100 demonstrators gathered to pay their last respects to the slain journalists. They chanted “The martyrs will not die” while holding posters of the two women.

CPJ reported that both journalists worked for CHATR, a Kurdish media production house that operates two news channels funded by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has long waged an insurgency against Turkey and maintains bases in the mountains of northern Iraq.

In March, the Iraqi federal government officially declared the PKK a “banned organization” after talks with Turkish officials. Earlier this month, Turkey and Iraq signed a military cooperation agreement that will see joint efforts in the fight against the PKK.