News / Turkey

Turkish forces ‘neutralize’ 18 PKK terrorists in Turkey, hit their bases in Iraq

Wednesday, 11 July 2018 1:59 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 11 July 2018 3:09 PM ]

In this file picture, Turkish soldiers patrol a road in the country’s southeastern province of Sirnak near the border with Iraq's northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. (Photo by AFP)

Turkish security and gendarmerie forces have “neutralized” more than two dozen members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group when they carried out a string of counter-terrorism operations in the country’s southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak and Osmaniye.

The Interior Ministry, in a statement released on Wednesday, said 11 PKK terrorists were “neutralized” in Osmaniye, and four others in Sirnak. Three Kurdish militants were also “neutralized” in Diyarbakir.

The statement added that clean-up operations were still ongoing in the mentioned areas.

The Turkish military generally uses the term "neutralize" to signify that the militants were killed, captured or surrendered.

Meanwhile, the Turkish General Staff, in a message published on its official Twitter page, said fighter jets had conducted airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The statement read that Turkish warplanes had targeted Iraq’s Qandil, Matina, Zap, Avasin-Basyan, Hakurk and Gara regions, destroying 28 shelters and depots that belonged to the Kurdish militants.

The Turkish Interior Ministry said earlier this week that some 1,985 operations had been conducted between July 2 and 6 in the southeastern part of the country, during which a total of 25 PKK terrorists were killed. Two Kurdish militants were captured alive, while 13 others surrendered as well.

In this file picture, a group of PKK militants enter northern Iraq in the Heror area, northeast of Dahuk, located 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo by AP)

It further noted that several militant hideouts were destroyed in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Tunceli and Hakkari, while 28 heavy- and long-barrel weapons, 23 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and a considerable amount of munitions were recovered from the terrorists.

Police squads, gendarmerie units, and the Turkish Armed Forces also detained 88 suspected PKK members.

PKK militants regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.

Turkey, along with the European Union and the United States, has declared the PKK a terrorist group and banned it. The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against PKK positions in the country as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.

More than 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking militant group.

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