Member of Nineveh Provincial Council, Dawd Shangali, made the remarks just few hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of operations in the district, NRT reported.
“The deployment of the troops is related to the threats made by Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” he added.
The fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have withdrawn from Shingal district, Shangali said. Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) are presence inside the city and that they are linked to Iraqi army and Hashid al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), he added.
Earlier on Sunday, Erdogan said Turkey had begun operations in Iraq’s Shingal region.
Iraqi Joint Operations Command, however, denied that any foreign troops had crossed the border into Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Defense Ministry said the Iraqi government would not stand idly by if military intervention was carried out by any foreign troops.
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