ANKARA: The Turkish defense ministry on Wednesday said that its fighter jets carried out new airstrikes against Kurdish militant targets in northwestern Iraq.
The development comes a day after Turkish and Iraqi officials held high-level security talks in Ankara.
Turkiye often carried out strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria that it believes to be linked with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a banned Kurdish separatist group.
According to a statement from the ministry, the jets hit a total of 14 suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq’s Gara, Hakourk and Qandil regions where the aircraft destroyed shelters, caves and warehouses used by the Kurdish militants. The ministry added special measures were taken to avoid harming civilians, environment and historic or cultural heritage sites.
The PKK, the government in Baghdad or the administration in the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region in Iraq have not yet made any comment on the strikes.
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Ankara believes that the PKK has sanctuaries in northern Iraq, where its leadership is also hiding.
A delegation of top military and security officials led by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein met in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss security issues, including the threat from PKK.
PKK has been declared a terror organization by the United States and the European Union.
In October, Turkiye’s parliament authorized its military to launch cross-border operations in Syria and Iraq for two more years.
