Turkish-coalition strike kills 45 IS militants – Warplanes pound Kurdish rebels in southeast 

This news has been read 4379 times!

ISTANBUL, May 14, (Agencies): The Turkish military and US-led coalition forces killed 45 Islamic State militants in shelling and an air strike north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Saturday. The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria, has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the Turkish military says its fighter jets have carried out nine airstrikes against Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country and northern Iraq. The state-run Anadolu Agency cited the military as saying the warplanes destroyed 98 targets Friday of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

Militants of the party, also known as the PKK, have waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. A ceasefire between the two parties collapsed last summer. Since then, Turkey has witnessed a surge of violence in the southeast including PKK bombing attacks against police and military personnel as well as large-scale military operations to flush out Kurdish rebels. Turkish warplanes periodically bomb PKK bases in northern Iraq. One soldier and two Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes on Saturday in Turkey’s restive southeast, the Turkish army said. Two soldiers were also wounded in the fighting in the Daglica region of Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, the army said on its website.

“Our hero comrade fell martyr during the armed clashes with the terrorists,” the army said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies. It said “two terrorists” were killed, adding there was an ongoing operation to hunt PKK rebels in the region. Six Turkish soldiers were killed on Friday in a clash with Kurdish militants in the Cukurca district of Hakkari while two more lost their lives when a military helicopter sent to the scene crashed. Turkish F-16 and F4 jets dropped bombs on PKK targets in the southeast and in northern Iraq on Friday, the army said. Ninety-eight targets came under fire in nine air strikes around Hakkari province, as well as several regions in northern Iraq including the mountainous Kandil area, it added.

Turkey has been waging an offensive against the PKK after the collapse in 2015 of a two-year ceasefire declared by the group. Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in attacks since. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey’s biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy.

This news has been read 4379 times!