ZAKHO, IRAQ: Turkey believes an attack on Iraq's northern Dohuk region, which killed eight and wounded 23 others, was a terror attack and calls on Iraqi authorities to avoid making statements influenced by "terrorist organization propaganda", Ankara's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, 20 July.

Iraq's foreign minister visited the site of a strike on a mountain resort in the northern province of Dohuk that killed eight tourists and injured 23.

Iraq's government said it will call back the Iraqi charge d'affaires in Turkey for consultation after accusing Ankara of carrying out the strike in Zakho, a city on the border between Iraq's Kurdistan region and Turkey, state news agency INA reported.

Turkey has refuted these claims saying the attack was a terror act.

Speaking at the scene of the attack, Fuad Hussein said all Iraqi representatives held a "unified position regarding this tragedy".

"We have big problems in Iraq, political problems. But there is a unified position among all the representatives of the Iraqi people," he said.

"Until now, the information that we received is that there was a bombing of this safe touristic site, artillery. And this calm, beautiful touristic village was hit."

Protesters clashed with police outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, while south of the capital in Najaf protesters hung signs calling Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan a "terrorist".

The top United Nations envoy to Iraq condemned the attack in a statement published on Twitter and called for an investigation.

Washington are monitoring the situation following a shelling that killed civilians in northern, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, declining to comment in detail while information emerges on the strike.

In a regular press briefing, Price reiterated the U.S. position that military action in Iraq should respect Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity, and emphasized "the importance of ensuring civilians is protected."