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Turkey says launched fresh airstrikes on PKK in northern Iraq

A picture taken on April 17, 2022 shows smoke billowing from behind the mountains of Matin (Jabal Matin) in the town of Chiladze before the official announcement by Turkey of an offensive targeting rebels in the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region.. (Photo by AFP)

Turkey said on Tuesday it had launched fresh airstrikes on what it said were Kurdish militants in the mountains of northern Iraq, Agence France-Presse reported.

The defense ministry said it had struck “20 targets” in Asos, Gara, Hakurk, Metina, Qandil and Zap.

It alleged they were “caves, bunkers, shelters, depots and installations” used by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an on-off insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

The Turkish army, whose incursions into Iraq are regularly condemned by Baghdad, said it had killed “numerous” militants in its latest assault.

On Saturday President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey was determined to “eliminate” separatists, arguing that they were a threat to both his country and Iraq.

The PKK has a number of rear bases in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

For the past quarter century, Turkey has maintained dozens of its own bases there.

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