Over 50 Turkish Jets Hit PKK Positions In North Iraq
KABUL: (Middle East Press) Turkish military jets have reportedly launched a massive operation against the positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, killing some 40 insurgents, early Tuesday, reports.
Over 50 Turkish warplanes took part in the six-hour raids on Tuesday, killing “35 to 40 terrorists according to preliminary findings,” official Turkish Anatolia news agency said.
Thirty-five F-16 jets and 18 F-4 phantoms took part in the heavy raids on a score of PKK targets, according to the news agency.
The overnight operation came as 12 Turkish police were killed Tuesday in a bomb attack blamed on Kurdish militants in the eastern region of Igdir, Anatolia said.
Following the raid, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pledged to eradicate PKK militants at any price.
“These mountains will be cleaned of terrorists. Whatever happens they will be cleaned,” Davutoglu said on Monday.
Sixteen Turkish soldiers were killed in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of the country on Sunday in an attack also blamed on the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.
