Two high-ranking Iraqi officers were killed Tuesday in what the army said was a "blatant Turkish drone attack" in the autonomous Kurdish region, where Ankara has for weeks been raiding militant positions.

The strike killed two border guard battalion commanders and the driver of their vehicle, the army said in a statement.

It is the first time members of the regular Iraqi forces have been killed since Turkey launched a cross-border ground and air operation in mid-June against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the mountainous terrain of northern Iraq.

Iraq has already summoned the Turkish envoy in Baghdad twice in protest at Ankara's operations on its soil.

Ihsan Chalabi, the mayor of nearby Sidakan in the north of Arbil province, told AFP that the drone strike in the Pradost region targeted "Iraqi border guard commanders while they were in meetings with PKK fighters".

Witnesses had reported clashes earlier in the day between PKK and Iraqi forces, and local sources said the drone strike targeted an emergency meeting called to try to calm the tensions.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has long held bases in the rugged mountains of northern Iraq
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has long held bases in the rugged mountains of northern Iraq AFP / SAFIN HAMED

The Iraqi presidency issued a statement denouncing "a dangerous violation of Iraqi sovereignty" and called on Ankara to "stop all its military operations" in the region.

At least five civilians have been killed since the start of the Turkish campaign in June.

Ankara has announced the death of two of its soldiers, and the PKK and its allies have reported the deaths of 10 fighters and supporters.

The PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

It has long used the rugged terrain of northern Iraq as a rear base to wage attacks on Turkey, which in turn had set up military positions inside Iraqi territory to fight them.

The Kurdish authorities, dominated by the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) see the PKK as rivals but have never been able to uproot them from their northern Iraqi bases.

Both Arbil and Baghdad see Turkey's military presence in the Kurdish region as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, but neither wants to alienate Turkey, a major trading partner and regional heavyweight.

Iraq