Turkish airstrikes kills 26 PKK members

Turkey’s military says its warplanes have conducted new combat sorties against positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the southeast of the country as well as northern Iraq, killing over two dozen PKK members.

The army said in a statement on Wednesday that the aircraft have targeted shelters, caves and ammunition depots in rural areas near in the southeast Turkish town of Semdinli and inside Iraq over the past hours.

At least 26 PKK militants were killed in the southeastern towns of Nusaybin, Sirnak and Yuksekova on Tuesday alone, the statement added.

The airstrikes came after the PKK killed five members of Turkish security forces in three separate bomb attacks in the southeast.

Over the past months, Turkey has been conducting offensives against the PKK positions in the largely Kurdish southern regions.

Turkish armed forces have expanded the operations well beyond the borders, chasing the PKK militants into northern parts of Iraq, while shelling Kurdish parts of Syria as well.

SS