News / Turkey

Turkish army jets kill 11 Kurdish militants in southeast

Tuesday, 11 July 2017 8:44 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 11 July 2017 10:24 AM ]

The file photo of a Turkish fighter jet (By AP)

At least 11 militants with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been killed as Turkey’s fighter jets bombed their positions in two areas of the country’s southeast overnight.

Turkey’s army said in a statement on Tuesday that an air operation on an area in the Dargecit district of Mardin Province near the Syrian border claimed the lives of eight PKK militants believed to be preparing for an attack.

Turkish warplanes also destroyed two gun positions during the operation.

The statement added that the jets also conducted air raids in the countryside of Hakkari Province, which borders Iraq and Iran, leaving three other PKK members dead.

Turkey has declared the PKK a terrorist organization and has banned it. The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against the PKK positions in the country’s southeastern border region as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.

More than 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking militant group.

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