Turkey destroys PKK targets in northern Iraq air op

The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) destroyed shelters, fighting holes and armories used by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in an air operation conducted in northern Iraq on Wednesday.

The operation targeted northern Iraq’s Sinat, Haftanin, Metina and Gara areas, said a statement publish on the Turkish Armed Forces’ official Twitter account.

Airstrikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq have been carried out regularly since July 2015, when the PKK resumed its decades-long armed campaign.

Northern Iraq’s Qandil Mountains have been a haven for PKK terrorists over the past few decades. Considered as the main base of the PKK, which control checkpoints and entrances to the mountains, the structuring in the area is used for cover and concealment by terrorists.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years and has been responsible for the death of nearly 40,000 people.

Separately, Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, in a statement, praised the Turkish Land Forces’ efforts to preserve Turkey’s interests and to contribute to global peace and stability in three continents, from Afghanistan to Kosovo, from Bosnia- Herzegovina to Qatar, and from Lebanon to Somalia.

“The Land Forces will continue to fulfill any task it is assigned, as it has done so far, and will continue to be a source of pride for our noble nation,” he said.

Akar’s statement came on the anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Land Forces.