Turkey carries out new airstrikes in northern Iraq, killing 16 Kurdish militants

• Turkey has reportedly carried out new airstrikes concentrating on Kurdish militants in Iraq.
• The nation’s protection ministry stated 16 militants, together with commanders, have been killed within the airstrikes.
• These airstrikes observe Turkish President Erdogan’s latest go to to Iraq, the place he sought elevated cooperation from Baghdad in combating the militants.

Turkey has carried out a brand new spherical of airstrikes concentrating on Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq, the Turkish protection ministry stated Monday.

Warplanes struck suspected positions of the Kurdistan Employees’ Get together, or PKK, within the areas of Hakurk, Metina and Gara in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish area, in keeping with the assertion.

The airstrikes reportedly killed 16 militants, together with some commanders, the ministry stated. There was no fast remark from the PKK, a banned separatist group that has waged an insurgency towards Turkey because the Nineteen Eighties.

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The ministry stated it was decided to “rescue Turkey from this drawback.”

The newest airstrikes got here weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid his first go to to Iraq in 12 years, looking for higher cooperation from Baghdad within the combat towards the militants. Erdogan had beforehand introduced a serious operation towards the PKK for this summer time with the intention of “completely” eradicating the menace it poses.

The PKK, labelled a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, is preventing for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey. The battle has claimed tens of hundreds of lives because it started in 1984.

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Baghdad has lengthy alleged that Turkish actions in Iraq towards the PKK violate its sovereignty, nevertheless it seems to be acquiescing to Ankara’s newest operations.

In March, after a gathering between the Iraqi and Turkish international ministers, Baghdad introduced that the Iraqi Nationwide Safety Council had issued a ban on the PKK, though it stopped wanting designating it as a terrorist group.