Baghdad - (AFP) - With anger and grief, Iraq mourned the victims of the bombing, which Baghdad held Turkey responsible for, and claimed the lives of nine civilians in a tourist resort in Kurdistan, in an event that would increase tension between the two neighboring countries.

At Erbil airport, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, a military plane was dispatched to transport the bodies of the victims to Baghdad, as seen by an AFP photographer.

The nine coffins were transported by ambulance, including the coffin of a small child, and wrapped in the Iraqi flag and wreaths of roses. Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein and the President of the Region, Nechirvan Barzani, carried the small coffin towards the plane before it took off for Baghdad.

At Baghdad International Airport, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi received the bodies and presented the official funeral ceremony, in the presence of a number of security leaders and officials, and met with the families of the victims, according to an official statement.

Later Thursday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador, Ali Reza Konay, in Baghdad and handed him a strongly worded protest note "for this heinous crime committed by the Turkish forces."

And the Iraqi Prime Minister declared Thursday a national day of mourning, while escalating popular anger in Iraq over the tragedy that claimed the lives of nine Iraqis and injured 23.

Most of the victims are from the center and south of the country, heading to the mountainous regions of Kurdistan bordering Turkey, to escape the heat.
Iraq accused the Turkish forces of launching the bloody bombing that hit a tourist resort in the Zakho district.

Ankara, for its part, denied responsibility for the attack, accusing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of being responsible for it, an organization that Turkey and its Western allies classify as "terrorist" and that has waged an insurgency against it since 1984.

In a modest Baghdad home, Nour had come to offer his condolences on the death of his friend Abbas Alaa and was waiting for the return of the family, who had headed to the airport to retrieve the body of the 24-year-old engineer.

He said, "Abbas got married one week ago and was with his wife in Kurdistan to celebrate their honeymoon. ... It is a shock to his friends and relatives. His first trip was on Tuesday and he was martyred on Wednesday. We cannot believe it."

He continued, "He went to enjoy himself in northern Iraq and returned as a martyr and his wife was injured. This does not happen in any other country. Only in Iraq."
Later, dozens of residents of the neighborhood where Abbas lived buried his body and placed a white bride's suit on his coffin, in the presence of journalists from dozens of media outlets, before he was buried in the city of Najaf in the south of the country.

Ankara, which has established military bases in northern Iraq for 25 years, is launching military operations against the PKK rebels stationed in training camps and rear bases in the region.

Turkish military operations in northern Iraq exacerbate pressure on relations between Ankara and the central government of Iraq in Baghdad, which accuses Turkey of violating its territorial sovereignty, even though the two countries are important trading partners.

Baghdad often summons the Turkish ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest, but these measures remain most of the time without result.
Dozens of people demonstrated Thursday morning in front of a center for granting entry visas to Turkey, amid strict security measures, demanding the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador from Iraq, according to an AFP photographer.

Patriotic songs were broadcast through loudspeakers, while some demonstrators raised a banner that read, "I am Iraqi. I demand the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador from Iraq."

The German Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, calling for "urgent consideration of the circumstances and responsibility" for the bombing.

In Tehran, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson condemned the attacks and stressed Iran's "firm support for stability and security" in Iraq.

Among the demonstrators, Ali Yassin, 53, told AFP, "Turkey and the Turkish embassy tell them enough is enough," adding, "Peacefulness does not help. Burning the Turkish embassy is our demand after we expel the Turkish ambassador because our government does not respond and is unable."

Similar demonstrations took place on Wednesday night in different parts of the country in front of entry visa centers, such as Kirkuk in the north, Najaf and Karbala, the largest cities in southern Iraq.

The demonstrators burned Turkish flags and trampled them, holding pictures of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the words "terrorist" written on them.
These moves often come at the initiative of the Sadrist movement, the movement of the prominent Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who enjoys a wide popular base.

On Wednesday night, Baghdad raised the tone by calling for the withdrawal of the Turkish army from its territory. The Iraqi authorities also announced the summoning of its charge d'affaires from Ankara, "and stopping the procedures for sending a new ambassador to Turkey," according to an official statement.

The condemnation came directly from Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, who denounced the "Turkish forces' once again committing a clear and blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," while the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, denounced the "Turkish bombing," considering that it "represents a violation of the country's sovereignty and a threat to Iraqi national security."

On its Twitter account, the Turkish embassy offered "condolences to our Iraqi brothers who were martyred at the hands of the PKK terrorist organization."

For its part, the Turkish Foreign Ministry considered that "such attacks" are being carried out by "terrorist organizations," calling in the statement on Iraq "not to issue announcements under the influence of terrorist propaganda."