Turkish warplanes attack PKK targets in Kurdistan Region
The latest Turkish air assaults follow Friday's deadly clashes in the Kurdish region of Turkey and President Erdogan's vow to intensify the war on the PKK.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in dozens of locations across the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region overnight on Friday and Saturday.
A press release by the army general staff said the warplanes bombed PKK camps, shelters, arms depots, and fighting positions in 36 locations in the Qandil Mountains, Haftanin, Gare, Avashin, Zab, and Khakurk areas.
No information regarding the extent of any damage or casualties was provided.
The PKK-affiliated Firat News Agency confirmed the bombings, adding they were near civilian population areas.
The latest Turkish air assaults follow Friday’s deadly clashes in the Kurdish region of Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vow to intensify the war on the PKK and its affiliates at home and abroad.
PKK guerrillas killed six soldiers and two government-paid Kurdish paramilitaries in a raid in the border district of Semdinli in Hakkari Province.
Fighting also erupted in Dersim and Sirnak provinces in which state media reported that over 50 Kurdish fighters were killed.
Qandil Mountains and other areas straddling along Iraq’s border with Turkey and Iran often come under daily Turkish fire both from the air and ground.
Turkey has been staging an air campaign on PKK targets since mid-2015 when a two-year-held peace talks and ceasefire between the sides collapsed.
In the past two years, similar airstrikes have displaced people from scores of villages.
Two airstrikes in late September killed seven civilians in the Sheladiz district of Dohuk Province.
An attack in August 2015 killed eight civilians, including a pregnant woman, in the Zargeli village of Erbil where Turkey claimed there was a PKK camp.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany