BAGHDAD, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkish warplanes on early Friday shelled positions outside the disputed town of Makhmour in northern Iraq, the Iraqi military said.

The bombardment started after midnight on positions in Makhmour Mountain, some 70 km southeast of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, the media office of the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

The town of Mahkmour and surrounding areas are part of disputed territories claimed by both the Kurdish region and the Baghdad government. It is mainly populated by Arabs and Kurds.

The attacks came after a Turkish consulate employee and a civilian were killed while another person was wounded on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire at a restaurant Iraq's northern city of Erbil.