Turkey has launched new airstrikes against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in mountainous areas of northern Iraq, Ankara and Iraqi sources confirmed.
“Exercising our right to self-defense, we conducted air operations against terrorist positions in northern Iraq” on the night of Friday to Saturday, more specifically in the “Gara, Qandil and Asos” sectors, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced.
The Turkish military, which frequently bombs the region, said 25 targets had been hit, including “caves, strongholds, shelters, warehouses and facilities” of the PKK, a Kurdish separatist movement that has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984 and is characterized as a “terrorist” organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
Asked about the matter by AFP, a source from the security forces in northern Iraq spoke of “intense” bombardments, but no civilian casualties were recorded.
The Turkish armed forces – whose operations are sometimes denounced by the Iraqi government – assured that they “neutralized many terrorists”.
PKK militants have rear bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, but Turkish military bases have also been located there for 25 years;
The CPT says it has recorded 230 Turkish bombings in northern Iraq since June 15, some of which have set crops on fire and displaced residents.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler reiterated Friday in an interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network that his government is “determined” to create a “safe zone” in northern Iraq, as in northern Syria, to prevent any infiltration of “terrorists” into Turkish territory.