Turkey bombs PKK targets in Iraq
Turkish fighter jets have launched airstrikes on the hideouts of Kurdish militants stationed in northern parts of neighboring Iraq.
Warplanes bombed Kurdistan Worker’s Party [PKK] targets during operations that were carried out over the weekend, Turkish military sources revealed.
The army is also targeting mobile PKK fighters operating inside Turkey close to the Iraqi border, the sources added.
Meanwhile, a PKK spokesman confirmed the attacks and said that three Turkish soldiers had been killed the days before the air raids.
“At 12 noon (0900 GMT) today, Turkish aircraft struck the Kurd districts of Khwakurk and Khnera. The strikes lasted until 3 pm,” Ahmed Denis, told AFP on Sunday.
The extent of causalities or damages caused by the attacks is not yet clear.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party or the PKK is an armed-separatist group that carries out attacks and deadly bombing against Turkey, Iran, and Syria from its bases in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq.
The group is listed as a terrorist organization by many countries, including the United States and EU member states.
A recent Los Angeles Times report, however, has given rise to growing speculations that the US funds and supports the group’s offshoot, PJAK, which carries out operations against Iran.
During the past few months, Ankara has increased its military action against the PKK to try to root out the armed rebels that seek to establish a Kurdish state by taking control of Kurdish populated areas in Turkey, Iran, and Syria.
In the past 24 years of conflict, up to 40,000 people have lost their lives in clashes between the Turkish military and the separatist rebels.
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