Turkey says its warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish warplanes, helicopters and drones hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq in an air and land operation that focused amenities starting from camps to ammunition shops, Turkey’s defence ministry stated on Monday.

The army motion was a part of a long-running Turkish marketing campaign in Iraq and Syria towards militants of the Kurdistan Employees Social gathering (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, each considered terrorist teams by Ankara.

The operation targeted on the Iraqi areas of Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan, the ministry stated in a press release. Alongside the air operation, commandos and particular forces additionally participated, each by land and air.

“Our operation is constant efficiently as deliberate,” the state-owned Anadolu information company quoted Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying. “The targets recognized within the first section have been captured.”

No data on casualties was given.

The motion, referred to as “Operation Claw Lock”, aimed to “stop terror assaults” and guarantee border safety following an evaluation that the PKK was planning a large-scale assault, the ministry added.

Artillery additionally fired on militant targets within the army motion, it stated.

Turkey usually launches air strikes into northern Iraq, a area into which it has repeatedly despatched commandos, to assist its offensives.

The PKK took up arms towards the Turkish state in 1984. Greater than 40,000 individuals have been killed within the battle, which up to now was primarily targeted in southeast Turkey.

Turkish officers privately say they imagine Baghdad is firmly on their facet in combating the PKK, which the European Union and United States have additionally designated a terrorist group.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler; Enhancing by Diane Craft and Clarence Fernandez)