Turkish warplanes hit some 70 targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq in the latest cross-border attack against the terrorist organization.
The General Staff said in a statement that the raid on the PKK targets, defined by the intelligence sources, began around 3:00 a.m. and that its planes returned safely to base after completing their mission successfully around 15:15 p.m.
It emphasized that the targets were confirmed to belong to the PKK and that maximum attention was shown to make sure the civilians will not be harmed. The targets were located in Ayashin-Basyan and Hakurk area.
The military did not say how many planes participated in the attack. Earlier in the day, an Iraqi Kurdish official said five fighter jets bombed the PKK hideouts in northern Iraq. Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary for the ministry governing Kurdish protection forces known as peshmerga, said, however, that the raid lasted one hour early Monday in an area inside Iraq along the country’s northern border with Turkey. The area includes the towns of Khnera, where the PKK is believed to have a large base, Khwakurd and Sidakan in Arbil province, he said. Yawar also said there were no civilian or peshmerga casualties in the mostly abandoned area.
Turkey has frequently targeted members of the outlawed PKK in cross-border raids into Iraqi territory, where thousands of the terrorists are based. The PKK uses its strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border strikes into Turkey.
Since Dec. 16, the Turkish military had confirmed four cross-border aerial raids into Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish officials, however, have reported other air strikes by Turkish jets, but those have never been confirmed by Turkey.
Turkey’s military says the raids have inflicted heavy losses on the PKK, killing as many as 175 militants and destroying command and logistic centers, shelters and ammunition depots.
Meanwhile, troops killed 10 PKK terrorists in clashes in the eastern province of Bingol, officials said. The clashes were continuing despite severe weather conditions in the region.
The United States – which with Turkey and the European Union considers the PKK a terrorist organization – has cautioned Ankara against a large incursion into northern Iraq, fearing it could disrupt one of Iraq’s more stable regions, Today’s Zaman reports.
