ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish military jets carried out new airstrikes Wednesday in opposition to Kurdish militant targets in neighboring Iraq, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said, a day after Turkey and Iraq held high-level security talks in Ankara.
Turkey is launching countermeasures to targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes are affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a banned Kurdish separatist organization that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.
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According to a ministry statement, the warplanes struck a total of 14 suspected PKK targets in the Gara, Hakourk and Qandil regions of northern Iraq, where the planes destroyed caves, shelters and warehouses used by the militants. Measures have been taken to prevent harm to the civilian population, ancient or cultural heritage and the environment, the ministry added.
There was no immediate comment from the PKK, the Baghdad government or the administration of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Ankara claims the PKK has sanctuaries in northern Iraq, where its leaders are believed to be based.
On Tuesday, top military and security officials led by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein met in Ankara to discuss security issues, including the threat from PKK, according to a communique released at the end of the meeting.
The PKK is a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since fighting began in 1984.
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