ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkey carried out airstrikes on Saturday targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced. This came a day after nine Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq.
Turkey frequently carries out attacks against targets in Syria and Iraq believed to belong to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an outlawed Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s. It has started.
The Defense Ministry said the planes struck targets in Metina, Hakluq, Gala and Qandil in northern Iraq, but did not specify the areas in Syria. The report said warplanes destroyed caves, bunkers, shelters and oil facilities “to eliminate terrorist attacks against the population and security forces and ensure border security.” The statement added that “many” militants were “neutralized” in the airstrikes.
On Friday night, assailants attempted to invade a military base in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, killing five soldiers. Four others later died from serious injuries. The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that 15 insurgents were also killed.
There was no immediate comment from the PKK, the Baghdad government, or the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Turkey launched Operation Krolock in northern Iraq in April 2022, during which it established several bases in Duhok province. Baghdad has repeatedly protested the Turkish military presence and called for their withdrawal.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed his condolences on the death of the Turkish soldier on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
“We will fight to the bitter end against the terrorist organization PKK within and outside our borders,” he wrote.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was scheduled to hold a security meeting in Istanbul later on Saturday, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun wrote in X.
Turkey's attack on Syrian Kurds increases migration to Europe https://t.co/KBhijByy5N
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 18, 2022
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that police had detained 113 people suspected of having ties to the PKK following raids across 32 Turkish provinces.
He added that the four people were arrested after police identified 60 social media accounts that “glorified separatist terrorist organizations for provocative purposes” or spread misleading information.
Three weeks ago, PKK-affiliated militants attempted to infiltrate a Turkish base in northern Iraq, killing six soldiers, Turkish officials said. The next day, six more Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes.
In retaliation, Turkey launched attacks on sites in Iraq and Syria that authorities say are linked to the PKK. Defense Minister Yasar Güler said at the time that dozens of Kurdish militants had been killed in airstrikes and ground attacks.
It was not immediately clear whether Friday night's attack and the attack three weeks ago targeted the same base. Rudaw, a news website based in Erbil in northern Iraq, reported that the base attacked on Friday was on Mount Zap in Amedi district, 17 kilometers (10 miles) from the Turkish border.
Meanwhile, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported that PKK leaders had been “neutralized” in Iraq. Anadolu news agency reported that Faik Aydin was targeted in an operation by the Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) about 160 kilometers (100 miles) inside the Turkish-Iraqi border.
The PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey's Western allies, including the United States. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the conflict began in 1984.
However, Turkey and the United States disagree over the status of the Syrian Kurdish group, which is allied with the United States in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.
