Turkey strikes Kurdish militants in Iraq
Turkey has launched air strikes in northern Iraq on Kurdish militants planning an attack, the Turkish Army announced on 23 January.
The strikes took place in the Zap region of northern Iraq, not far from Turkey's southeastern border.
The army said it was targeting members of the ‘separatist terrorist organisation' - Turkey's official term for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The militants were planning an attack on border security posts and bases, the army said, adding that the strikes destroyed weapons emplacements and shelters.
The PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, and is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
After a two-year ceasefire collapsed in 2015, the Turkish army intensified its military operations against the PKK in the Turkish southeast.
The Turkish Air Force has regularly carried out raids on PKK rear bases around the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq since then.
Turkish troops also sometimes stage ground incursions into the area.
The strikes in Iraq come four days after Turkey started a military operation, supporting Syrian rebels, against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in a bid to remove it from its western enclave of Afrin in northern Syria.
Ankara views the YPG as an offshoot of the PKK and repeatedly calls them ‘terrorists’.
More from Special Operations
-
![Japan to set up DARPA-style institute to tackle evolving threat of cyber warfare]()
Japan to set up DARPA-style institute to tackle evolving threat of cyber warfare
Japan’s Ministry of Defense is devoting government-level effort and funding to tackling the growing problem of cyber warfare.
-
![Eurosatory day four: Images from across the show]()
Eurosatory day four: Images from across the show
All the best images from the penultimate day of Eurosatory 2024 which brought the security industry into sharper focus for attendees to the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte.
-
![Explosive detector dogs sniff out demo explosives at Eurosatory]()
Explosive detector dogs sniff out demo explosives at Eurosatory
The Ukrainian dogs carried out the demonstrations at Eurosatory’s HELPED area which focuses on humanitarian and environmental crises.
-
![Avon Protection wins orders and unveils total protection CBRN system]()
Avon Protection wins orders and unveils total protection CBRN system
The Eurosatory exhibitor has been clocking up the contract awards in recent months and one of the more notable wins was for a respirator contract worth up to US$47 million from UK MoD but the focus is also on opportunities with police and security forces.
-
![AeroVironment to “dramatically” increase production of Switchblades]()
AeroVironment to “dramatically” increase production of Switchblades
The company plans to double or triple production rates for Switchblade 600 and 300 systems.
-
![Clearspeed provides advanced voice analytics for risk assessment (video)]()
Clearspeed provides advanced voice analytics for risk assessment (video)
Clearspeed's innovative voice analytics technology is transforming risk assessment and insider threat detection for global security forces, including NATO Special Operations.
