The Turkish army bombed this Saturday around thirty alleged positions of the Kurdish PKK guerrilla in northern Iraq after the death last night of nine Turkish soldiers in several terrorist attacks.
“With the airstrikes carried out, 29 targets were destroyed, such as caves, shelters, lodges and oil facilities used by the separatist terrorist organization (PKK),” said a statement from the Turkish Ministry of Defense today.
Nine Turkish soldiers were killed and four wounded in a clash with terrorists who tried to infiltrate a Turkish-controlled area in the north of the neighboring country.
The Turkish army claims to have “neutralized” (killed) 20 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels in these clashes.
These deaths occur after the death in combat on December 23 of 12 Turkish soldiers and at least 16 members of the PKK after two days of clashes.
The region where this fighting is taking place includes the districts of Mettina, Zap and Avashin-Baysan, in northern Iraq, where Turkey first launched a military operation from land and air in April 2022 and where it has been repeating operations since then.
The PKK began the armed struggle in 1984 against the Turkish state to demand more rights for the Kurdish minority, about 20% of the Eurasian country’s population.
Since then, more than 45,000 people have been killed in clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces.
