Turkey says its warplanes have carried out raids on PKK targets in northern Iraq following a suicide attack on a government building in its capital, Ankara.
A Turkish interior ministry statement on Sunday said some 20 targets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group were “destroyed” in the aerial operation, including caves, shelters, and depots.
The military ramped up air strikes in Iraq’s PKK bases in Gara, Hakurk, Metina, and Qandil, the statement said, Aljazeera reported.
The strikes came hours after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance of the interior ministry building in Ankara, injuring two police officers. A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police.
A media outlet close to the PKK said the group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.
From time to time, the Turkish military carries out air strikes on PKK positions, which is listed as a terrorist group by the EU, US, and Turkey.
The Turkish military is said to have more than a dozen military bases in northern Iraq and many more in Syria under the pretext of fighting PKK terrorism.
Both Iraq and Syria have condemned the presence of the Turkish military on their soil as a violation of their territorial integrity and have called on Ankara to pull out its troops.
Source: Agencies
