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30 Turkish F-16s bomb PKK camps in northern Iraq

An F-16 fighter jet operated by the Turkish Air Force ©Anadolu

At least 30 Turkish military aircraft have bombarded the positions of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.

According to reports published by Istanbul-based NTV and CNN-Turk satellite television networks, at least 30 F-16 fighter jets operated by the Turkish Air Force pounded five locations in Iraq's Kurdistan region on Thursday, demolishing shelters, storage points, and arms depots of the Kurdish militants.

Since last week, Turkey has been carrying out airstrikes against purported ISIL targets in Syria as well as PKK positions in Iraq, after a deadly bomb attack claimed by ISIL Takfiris left 32 people dead in the southwestern town of Suruc, across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani.

Turkish police also launched a far-and-wide arrest campaign following the July 20 Suruc bombing. However, figures from the Turkish government show that only around one-tenth of those detained in police raids had links with ISIL, while the rest were Kurds. 

Members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inspect a crater reportedly caused by Turkish airstrikes in the Qandil Mountains, northern Iraq, on July 29, 2015. ©AFP

On Thursday, Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party denounced as nothing more than a “show” Turkey’s alleged anti-terror police raids and its military campaign against ISIL Takfiri militants in Syria.

Demirtas accused Ankara of using purported anti-ISIL airstrikes as a "cover" to bomb PKK positions.

Ankara has been among the main supporters of Takfiri terrorists wreaking havoc on Syria since March 2011. The violence has reportedly claimed more than 230,000 lives up until now.

There are reports indicating that the Turkish government actively trains and arms the militants operating in Syria, and also facilitates the safe passage of would-be foreign terrorists into the crisis-stricken Arab country.


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