ISTANBUL: Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday that Turkey has launched a fresh air and ground attack against illegal Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq.

Akar claimed that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) hideouts in the Metina, Zap, and Avashin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq are being pounded by commando units and special forces backed by unmanned aerial vehicles and attack helicopters.

Ankara and its Western allies have designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation since it began its insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984.

PKK facilities and training camps are located on both sides of Turkey’s mountainous border in Iraq’s Sinjar area and in the Sinjar Mountains.

He said, “Our heroic pilots successfully struck shelters, caves, tunnels, and ammunition depots belonging to the terrorist organisation.”

This operation, he added, began Sunday night, but he wouldn’t disclose the exact number of troops engaged.

Following an investigation into the PKK’s plans for a large-scale attack on Turkey, the Turkish military launched an operation.

The Turkish army began Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle in northern Iraq in 2020, which were followed by the most recent raids.

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