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PKK Kidnaps 15 workers in eastern Turkey following Ankara's air raids

Xinhua, July 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

A total of 15 workers at a power plant in Turkey's eastern Sirnak province were kidnapped by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants Saturday Morning, only hours after Turkish warplanes bombed the group's camps in Iraq late Friday, local Dogan News Agency reported.

The report said a group of PKK members abducted these workers after firing at the plant, adding that the police were sent to the scene, while an investigation has been underway.

On Friday, a police officer was also abducted by suspected members of PKK in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

Late last night, Turkey launched air strikes against camps of PKK targets in northern Iraq. The country's F-16 fighter jets took off from airbases in the southeastern Diyarbakir province, and bombed the PKK camps in the regions of Zap, Basyan, Bare, Avasin and Metina on Qandil Mountain in Turkey's neighboring country.

A written statement issued by Turkey's prime minister's office on Saturday confirmed the air raids, while the Turkish foreign ministry has informed international organizations such as NATO and the UN about "legal steps taken to protect national sovereignty within international law.

In response, the PKK said that the government's military operations are an end to a cease-fire that was established four years ago as part of peace talks between the government and the imprisoned leader of the PKK Abdullah Ocalan.

Some 297 people, including 37 foreigners, had been arrested in nationwide raids on Friday against suspected members of Islamic State, PKK and the DHKP-C groups.

The operations come after serious of deadly terror attacks in the country in one week time. An suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people in southern Suruc border town last week. The PKK claimed responsibility for killings of two police officers in southern Sanliurfa province. Endit