Turkey says 23 Kurdish militants killed in Iraq airstrikes

AP , Sunday 2 Oct 2022

The ministry usually refers to killed militants as ``neutralized.'' It said the number of casualties in the mission in the Asos region of northern Iraq, which is controlled by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, was expected to rise.

File Photo: Kurdish peshmerga fighters walk to inspect the damage following an Iranian cross-border attack in the area of Zargwez, where several exiled left-wing Iranian Kurdish parties maintain offices, around 15 kilometres from the Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah on September 28, 2022. AFP

A video accompanying the ministry's tweet showed F-16 fighters taking off and a number of explosions in a mountainous area. The ministry referred to a statement from Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Thursday in which he said airstrikes had hit 16 targets in the Asos region.

Turkey has been conducting a series of operations in northern Iraq since 2019, saying the military is targeting the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to prevent it from launching cross-border attacks on Turkey. In April, Operation Claw-Lock was launched, which involves ground and air forces.

The PKK has waged an on-again, off-again insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

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