Turkey shells Kurdistan Region, claims it killed 12 PKK members

Turkey claims to have "neutralized" 12 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) following attacks on Wednesday by its warplanes that struck targets in mountainous areas within the Kurdistan Region's borders.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey claims to have "neutralized" 12 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) following attacks on Wednesday by its warplanes that struck targets in mountainous areas within the Kurdistan Region's borders.

Locals told Kurdistan 24 they witnessed bombardment by Turkish military aircraft near the villages of Sargale and Sgere, both of which are part of Amadiya (Amedi) district, Duhok Province, and only four kilometers outside the district's center.

Following the attacks, Turkish Armed Forces claimed in a Twitter post that their operation in the Metina region, part of Amedi district, left 12 "neutralized," a term their authorities often use to indicate the killing, capture, or incapacitation of enemy fighters.

All 12, they said, were members of the PKK, a group fighting a decades-long insurgency with Ankara over Kurdish rights and self-rule. As part of the conflict, the Turkish army has crossed its southern border several times in the past year, in some places up 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) deep into the Kurdistan Region.

On Tuesday, nearly 15 kilometers eastward of the town of Amedi in Deralok, Turkey launched a similar operation lasting for 30 minutes, with only material damage reported.

Late August, Turkish shelling injured a Kurdish civilian and killed over ten cows in a village in Sidekan district, Erbil Province.

In May, Turkey announced it had constructed a military outpost in Khwakurk as a base to launch attacks against the PKK. Those attacks, however, have caused injuries and deaths to residents unaffiliated with the group, and have forced villagers from the area to flee for their lives.

In March, Turkish jets struck and killed four people who were celebrating Newroz, the Kurdish new year, in Erbil’s Choman district.

Both Choman and Bradost are near the Qandil mountain range sprawling along the Iraq-Iran border where the PKK has its headquarters.

Editing by John J. Catherine