Ankara vows ‘necessary response’ after diplomat killed in Iraq

Turkey is vowing to retaliate after an employee of Ankara’s consulate in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region was killed in a shooting earlier today.

The Turkish foreign ministry confirms in a statement that an “employee was martyred” in an “atrocious attack” outside the consulate in Erbil.

Images of the restaurant in Iraq's Erbil city where at least one Turkish consulate official was reportedly killed in an afternoon attack pic.twitter.com/18LQsCFJRd

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) July 17, 2019

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin vows on Twitter that “the necessary response will be given to those who committed this treacherous attack.”

Kalin adds that efforts to find the gunmen responsible “had begun” but did not speculate over who might be responsible for the attack.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

— AFP