Turkish fighter jets struck on Sunday night Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, destroying “terrorist” hideouts, announced its Defense Ministry.
“The Claw-Eagle Operation has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists’ heads,” it said on Twitter.
Turkey regularly targets PKK positions, both in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based.
The ministry said the air operation targeted the PKK in the region of its stronghold at Qandil, near the Iranian border, as well as the areas of Sinjar, Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk.
“The PKK and other terrorist elements are threatening the security of our people and borders with attacks increasing every day on the areas of our outposts and bases,” it said.
There was no immediate statement from the PKK. There was also no immediate comment from Baghdad or northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, focused in southeast Turkey.
