The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) launched airstrikes on Tuesday night over the southeastern Lice district, as well as the Kandil mountain, which is known as the northern Iraqi base of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), leaving 22 PKK members dead.
According to a statement issued by the TSK, a series of airstrikes were conducted at around midnight against nine targets in the Kandil area of northern Iraq, with PKK shelters being destroyed. The pre-determined targets were hit with full accuracy and efforts are ongoing to discover the extent of the destruction at the site. The war jets reportedly returned safely to their bases.
The TSK statement also elaborated on the airstrikes carried out over the Lice district of the Diyarbakır province. Upon receiving intelligence, the TSK hit four targets in the rural area on Tuesday night between 11:41 p.m. and 12:27 a.m. The scope of the destruction is currently unknown.
The PKK is designated as a “terrorist organization” by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), as well as Turkey. The 32-year-old conflict, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives, halted in March 2013 as part of the settlement process initiated between the PKK and the Turkish government. However, the PKK ended the ceasefire in the summer of 2015.