WASHINGTON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department on Wednesday condemned the attack in Iraq's northern city of Erbil earlier in the day, which killed one Turkish diplomat.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms today's attack in Erbil, where at least one Turkish diplomat was murdered," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
There can be no justification for such acts of wanton violence, he added.
Earlier in the day, a Kurdish security source told Xinhua that unidentified gunmen opened fire on the Turkish consulate's personnel at a restaurant in Kolan Street near the consulate in central Erbil, some 375 km north of Iraqi capital Baghdad.
According to a statement by the Kurdish security service, a Turkish consulate employee and a civilian were killed while another person was wounded.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the armed attack on Turkish diplomats and urged Iraqi authorities to swiftly find the killers.
