Turkey's military confirmed on Thursday that its air force has pounded targets of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and vowed to continue the attacks until the terrorist group is "rendered ineffective."
Jets hit 60 PKK targets in the largely mountainous region near the border with Turkey late Wednesday as well as targets on the Kandil Mountains, along the Iraqi-Iranian border, where the leaders of the terrorist group are believed to be hiding, the military said in a statement.
The strikes were in retaliation for an ambush by the PKK on a Turkish military convoy earlier on Wednesday that killed eight soldiers and a village guard helping the troops. The military said 15 other soldiers were wounded.
Close to 40 troops have been killed in stepped-up PKK strikes since July. Earlier, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had hinted at a major operation against the PKK, saying Turkey had reached the end of its tether.
Turkish and Kurdish media had reported that Turkey's air force sent jets into northern Iraq Wednesday. But officials did not confirm the raids until Thursday.
Many PKK terrorists shelter in the mountains of Iraq, crossing the border into Turkey for hit-and-run assaults. The group, which is fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey, is considered a terrorist organization by both the European Union and United States.
Turkey has carried out several cross-border airstrikes and ground incursions to fight the PKK in Iraq over the last few years. But Wednesday's is the military's first offensive into northern Iraq since last summer, when Turkish planes carried out a series of similar retaliatory raids on PKK hideouts across the border.
"The Turkish armed forces will continue with similar actions inside and outside of Turkey with determination, until the north of Iraq becomes a secure, livable area and the separatist organization which uses it as a base for attacks on Turkey is rendered ineffective," the military said in a statement posted on its website.
The military said Turkish forces also fired 168 rounds of artillery on suspected PKK targets, targeting terrorist sites and avoiding civilian targets. All planes returned to base safely and the operation was a success, it said. There was no word on casualties.
A Kurdish news agency that is close to the PKK said the jets pounded "empty fields" and there were no PKK casualties.
The raid is expected to escalate tensions in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, where frequent clashes and violent protests have undercut reconciliation efforts.
Last year, Turkey declared it was taking steps toward granting more rights for Kurds in an effort to reduce support for the PKK and end the decades of fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The PKK, however, accused Turkey of ignoring demands for autonomy, freedom for imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, an unconditional amnesty for PKK commanders and permission for Kurdish-language education in schools.
Last month an umbrella Kurdish group that includes a Kurdish party proclaimed Kurdish autonomy in Diyarbakır, the largest city in the southeast, in an act of defiance against the government, which views it as a threat to national unity.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman said the government "denounces any attack against Iraq's sovereignty," but, "at the same time it also denounces any terrorist attacks launched by such groups against the neighboring countries."
Iraqi officials have been loath to criticize Turkey too harshly on how it deals with the PKK. While they do not like the idea of any foreign government infringing on Iraqi airspace and territory, they have little ability to protect their own borders.
Turkey is also one of Iraq's major trading partners and holds great influence in the Kurdish region as well as the rest of Iraq. Kurdish officials, who are also eager to strengthen bonds with Turkey, have in the past called on the PKK to lay down their arms but they're also hesitant to actively go after their fellow Kurds.
Today's Zaman
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