Turkish Jets Strike Kurdish Militant Targets in the Southeast
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkish jets struck Kurdish militant targets in the southeastern province of Hakkari late on Wednesday, hitting shelters and armed posts, the army said in a statement on Thursday.
Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast has been hit by almost daily waves of deadly fighting between PKK militants and security forces since the collapse of a ceasefire in July.
Security forces have responded by launching frequent bombing raids into mountainous northern Iraq where the PKK has camps. It is the worst violence NATO member Turkey has seen in two decades.
The PKK began its separatist insurgency in 1984, triggering a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. The group, which says it is now fighting for greater Kurdish autonomy, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
President Tayyip Erdogan has promised the fight will go on until "not one terrorist is left". The conflict has flared up as Turkey prepares for a parliamentary election on Nov. 1 following an inconclusive June vote.