Turkey says its jets struck Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq

Ankara: Turkey’s jets carried out new cross-border airstrikes on Monday targeting Turkish Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the Turkish Defence Ministry said.

Turkey frequently conducts aerial attacks against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq.

The latest operation, codenamed ‘Operation Claw-Eagle,’ hit suspected PKK targets in several regions in Iraq’s north, including Sinjar, according to a tweet from the military, which claimed 81 PKK targets were struck, including shelters and caves.

The ministry said the jets took maximum care not to harm civilians and returned to their bases safely. There was no immediate statement from the PKK, which has waged a more than three-decade-old insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

There was also no immediate comment from Baghdad or northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The conflict has led to the loss of tens of thousands lives since it started in 1984.