Turkey hits PKK targets in Iraq, Syria

The Turkish military has carried out air strikes against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants near Iraq's Sinjar mountains and northeastern Syria to prevent the group from sending weapons and explosives for attacks inside Turkey, it said on April 24.
   
The two regions have become "terror hubs," the Turkish military said, with the PKK frequently using these areas to channel militants, weapons, bombs and ammunition into Turkey, according to Ankara.
   
"To destroy these terror hubs which threaten the security, unity and integrity of our country and our nation and as part of our rights based on international law, air strikes have been carried out … and terrorist targets have been struck with success," the Turkish army said in a statement.

The air bombardment was carried out around 2 a.m. local time on April 25, it added.
   

Anadolu Agency said air fleets Korsan (Pirate) and Pars (Leopard) conducted the strike. Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and Air Force Commander Abidin Ünal watched the strikes supported by tanker planes at an operation base. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has for months said the PKK has taken a foothold in Sinjar region in Iraq's northwest, around 115 kilometers from the Turkish border, and that Ankara would not allow the group to expand its activities there.

The strikes in Syria targeted the YPG - the armed wing of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) and a key component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are backed by the United States. The U.S.' NATO ally and partner in operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkey, sees the PYD and the YPG as terrorists linked to the PKK and calls on international community to cut any ties...