Turkish military strikes PKK targets in northern Iraq

Turkey launched two separate aerial campaign against outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq on Friday and Saturday, Turkish Armed Forces said in a written statement.

A total of 20 Turkish warplanes struck PKK targets in Sinat, Haftanin and Gara regions on Friday, the military said. On early Saturday, 10 warplanes hit Hakurk region, the statement added.

The airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraq intensified in the aftermath of a suicide car bomb attack in capital Ankara on March 13 which killed at least 37 people.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a Kurdish militant group linked to the PKK, has claimed responsibility.

On Feb. 17, a separate suicide car bomb targeted military shuttles in the capital city, killing at least 29 people and injuring 81 others. TAK claimed the responsibility of the attack.

Turkish Interior Ministry stated that one of the suspected bombers, identified as 24-year-old Seher Cagla Demir, was trained in Syria by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

A two-year ceasefire between the government and the PKK collapsed in July last year and Turkish security forces have launched a major campaign against the group in the southeast of the country.

More than 260 members of Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have been killed since last July in confrontations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq.

The PKK, which has been waging a separatist war against Turkey since 1984, is listed as terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Endit