TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Over 50 Turkish jets bomb PKK targets in northern Iraq: report
A picture shows two burnt trucks reportedly set on fire by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Tunceli, eastern Turkey, on August 2
Change Size
A picture shows two burnt trucks reportedly set on fire by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Tunceli, eastern Turkey, on August 2. (AFP) (PKK) militants in Tunceli, eastern Turkey, on August 2. (AFP)
A
span class="inline inline-center">A picture shows two burnt trucks reportedly set on fire by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Tunceli, eastern Turkey, on August 2. (AFP)
Turkish warplanes launched a massive air operation early Tuesday against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, killing as many as 40 rebels, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
More than 50 Turkish jets were involved in the six hours of raids, killing "35 to 40 terrorists according to preliminary findings", Anatolia said.
The overnight operation came after 16 Turkish soldiers were killed in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of the country on Sunday in an attack blamed on the PKK.
Thirty-five F-16 jets and 18 F-4 phantoms took part in the heavy raids on a score of PKK targets, according to the news agency.
After initial silence over the scale of the toll, the Turkish army announced on Monday that 16 of its troops had been killed in the roadside bomb attack carried out by the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.
The Turkish government vowed to eradicate PKK rebels after the attack -- which was by far the deadliest in the latest flare up of the PKK's three-decade-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.
In late July, the Turkish military launched a relentless air campaign against PKK strongholds in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, with the militants hitting back with daily attacks on the police and security forces. (++++)
