Turkey to do whatever necessary against PKK: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will do "whatever necessary" in its fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Erdogan made the remarks while returning from his recent trip to Asia on Monday, adding that Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq should be taking action against the PKK bases in the region.
"If they cannot, Turkey will do whatever necessary to defend itself," AFP quoted him as telling reporters on the Turkish presidential jet.
Turkey launched an airstrike campaign against PKK positions in Iraq and alleged ISIL targets in Syria following an ISIL bomb attack in the Turkish town of Suruç on July 20, which left 32 people dead.
The PKK, which seeks to gain self-rule, has been engaged in militancy in southeastern Turkey for decades. A shaky ceasefire between Anakara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null by the militants following the Turkish airstrikes against the group.
Based on reports, at least 17 Turkish security personal have been killed in the recent wave of attacks attributed to the PKK.
Earlier on Monday, PKK militants opened fire on a military hospital in Turkey’s eastern Bitlis province, said a statement released by the local governor’s office.
During the attack, militants fired at the hospital causing severe structural damage but no casualties, the statement said.
Elsewhere in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, two Turkish soldiers were injured in a PKK landmine blast. The Doğan News Agency reported another PKK attack on a security headquarters also in the same province.
Meanwhile, the group has confirmed an attack on a military police station in Turkey’s eastern province of Agri that killed two police forces and injured 31 others.
On Sunday, PKK members used two tons of explosives to attack the station on a highway near the town of Doğubayazıt, located 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) east of the capital Ankara.
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