UPDATE - Turkey offers to support to victims of earthquake

UPDATES WITH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

By Cansu Dikme and Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey pledged its support to the victims of Sunday’s earthquake on the Iran-Iraq border, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday.

“Turkey stands with the brotherly victims of the earthquake,” he said in a statement.

The prime minister said the government had sent a convoy of medical and food aid and wished speedy recovery to those affected.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed Turkey’s “solidarity” with the people of Iran and Iraq.

It said Turkey was “greatly saddened” by casualties. “The Turkish people… are in solidarity with the people of Iran and Iraq,” the ministry said.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit around 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the Iraqi city of Halabja at 9.15 p.m. Iraqi time (1815GMT), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The Tasnim news agency in Iran reported 211 killed in western Iran, with most casualties in the city of Kermanshah. The death toll is expected to rise.