Turkish army airstrike, soldiers kill 13 Kurdish PKK militants
More than a dozen members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed after Turkish military aircraft and army soldiers carried out a raft of counter-terrorism operations against the Kurdish militants in Turkey’s southeastern provinces of Hakkari and Van.
The Turkish General Staff, in a statement released on Friday, announced that air force fighter jets launched two aerial attacks against the mountainous Daglica area of Hakkari Province, located 1,026 kilometers (638 miles) east of the capital, Ankara, earlier in the day, killing ten PKK members in the process.
Separately, three PKK militants were killed during a raid in the Ipekyolu district of Van Province.
Security authorities, speaking on condition of anonymity, said counter-terrorism police and intelligence units mounted an offensive against a house in the Hacibekir neighborhood of the area, where militants had holed up and were preparing an attack.
A fierce exchange of gunfire broke out, when PKK members responded with fire to security forces’ call for surrender. Three PKK militants were killed in clashes, while four others sustained injuries and managed to flee to a forested area near the scene.
A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015, and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria.
The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.
Turkish activists storm German-flagged ship that carried weapons for Israeli military
More than 50 countries press UN for arms embargo on Israel
PKK claims deadly attack on Turkey’s aerospace firm
Nov. 4: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
Britons demand release of pro-Palestine activists
VIDEO | Israel's unwinnable war in Lebanon
Non-aligned nations condemn Israeli violation of Iran's sovereignty
IRGC: 10 foreign-backed terrorists killed, arrested in Sistan and Baluchestan
Iran calls on EU to end targeting ordinary Iranians after missile transfer claims refuted
UK police detain Jewish scholar Haim Bresheeth following pro-Palestine address
VIDEO | Iraqi resistance strikes key Israeli targets in occupied territories
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
