News / Turkey

13 Kurdish militants killed in air strikes: Turkish army

Monday, 16 November 2015 2:13 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 November 2015 2:17 PM ]

This AFP file photo shows armed PKK militants. (AFP Photo)

The Turkish army says over a dozen Kurdish militants have been killed in air strikes against the militants strongholds in the country's southeast close to the Iraqi border.

The army said in a statement on Monday that 13 militants belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in air strikes on the Cukurca district of Hakkari Province on Sunday.

The army statement added that four more PKK militants had been detained in the eastern province of Agri and southeastern province of Siirt.

Turkey has been engaged in a large-scale military campaign against the PKK across the mainly Kurdish southeastern and eastern regions of Turkey, and in northern Iraq, since a two-year ceasefire broke down in July.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, an ethnically Kurdish town located close to border with Syria, on July 20 killing over 30 people.

The Turkish security forces and the PKK have since been engaged in a series of tit-for-tat attacks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, has vowed to continue fighting the PKK until the group’s militants have been all "liquidated."

Tens of thousands have been killed since the PKK started its military campaign for an autonomous region in Turkey's restive southeast since 1978.

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