The Turkish military eliminated 3 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq's Hakurk region, a day after two Turkish soldiers were killed in the same region.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry noted that the terrorists were killed in an air operation, carried out in retaliation for the killing of the Turkish soldiers. "We will continue to to destroy all the hideouts of the terrorists," the ministry said.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks in Turkey. Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) previously called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to leave the area.
Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terror threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps are not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terror threats, particularly in Sinjar.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014, on the pretext that it was protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and command-and-control activities.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
