SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Turkey has launched domestic counter-terrorism operations in the country’s southeast, the ministry of interior said on Thursday.
Up to 5,280 members of the security forces had launched two operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Sirnak and Hakkari provinces, the Turkish interior ministry said in a statement.
The ministry further said the operations linked with the Operation Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt, launched in the Kurdistan Region’s province of Duhok on Friday.
The Turkish army has set up three new military points in Amedi district, northeast of Duhok, according to Esta’s reporter. Turkish media reported that commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters.
Besides troop deployment, Turkish warplanes launched airstrikes against areas where suspected PKK positions are thought to be present.
Turkey has conducted numerous ground and aerial cross-border offensives into neighboring northern Iraq to attack PKK fighters, who maintains bases in the region.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, focused in southeast Turkey.
