KIRKUK, Iraq 

The perpetrators of recent fires in the northern areas of Kirkuk, Erbil, and Duhok are members of the terrorist group PKK, Iraqi officials said Monday.

An investigation team was formed on the orders of Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani after fires in Erbil and Duhok, said Interior Ministry spokesman Miqdad Miri.

Miri said in a statement that three people arrested after an extensive investigation into the fires were found to be members of the terrorist PKK.

Three of the suspects – two in Kirkuk and one in Diyala – were arrested and detained in an operation coordinated with the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), the spokesman said.

Saying that the three confessed that they were planning to set fires in other regions, Miri said the terrorists were planning to sabotage the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline on Iraqi territory.

They also planned to set fires in Shorja and Sadr City in the capital Baghdad, he added.

The terrorist group PKK often hides out in northern Iraq, plotting attacks on nearby Türkiye.

Active in at least four countries in the region, the PKK and its offshoots such as the PKK/YPG threaten Türkiye, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.

The PKK has also been accused of starting large forest fires in Türkiye.

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU — has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Yasin Gungor in Istanbul