An air strike by Turkish warplanes “neutralized” at least six militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the military said on Twitter on Wednesday.
The air strike carried out on Tuesday targeted the Hakurk, Gara, Metina, Zap, Qandil, Avasin regions of northern Iraq, the Turkish military said, destroying 16 targets.
Turkey regularly carries out air strikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq, where the group is based in the Qandil mountains, and has also threatened operations in Sinjar.
“We have neutralized 4,500 terrorists in Afrin. They fled,” Erdogan said on Tuesday, referring to a Turkish military operation to drive Kurdish fighters from part of northern Syria.
“Qandil is next, Sinjar is next. We will face up to whoever is threatening, disturbing my country,” Erdogan said during a rally in Black Sea region of Eregli ahead of Turkey’s June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast that has killed some 40,000 people.
Turkish officials often use the term “neutralize” in statements about attacks on militants, without giving precise details. It is generally understood to mean that they were killed, captured or wounded.
