Turkey jets bombed 7 Kurdish militant targets in north Iraq: official

By AFP

kurdish militiaTurkish war planes overnight hit seven targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and also pressed on with strikes against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria, the Turkish prime minister’s office said Saturday.


“Strikes were carried out on targets of the Daesh (IS) terror group in Syria and the PKK terror group in northern Iraq,” it said in a statement, saying shelters and warehouses containing PKK weapons were hit in the northern Iraq operation.

It listed seven locations in northern Iraq where the strikes had been carried out, including Mount Kandil where the PKK’s military leadership is based.

In addition to the air raids, Turkish ground forces also carried out artillery strikes against IS in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq, the statement said.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu convened a meeting of top ministers and security officials early Saturday at around 2:00 am (2300 GMT) in Ankara to discuss the cross-border operations, it added.

“Additional measures were agreed for the fight against terrorism and instructions given to the relevant authorities.”

The military operations come after a week of violence in Turkey, including a suicide bombing blamed on IS and attacks on Turkish police claimed by the PKK.

The bombing raids against IS were the first such actions against the group by Turkey, which has long been accused of taking an overly conciliatory line on the jihadists.