By Xinhua
Ankara : Turkish warplanes bombed the targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq early on Sunday, the Turkish military said in a statement.
The statement issued by the Turkish General Staff posted on its Web site said that the warplanes hit PKK targets in regions bordering the Turkish territories as well as in Qandil Mountain, which is further way from the frontier.
The Turkish warplanes bombed the PKK targets in Iraq at 01:00 local time (GMT 2300 Saturday) in large scale areas, said the statement.
It added that the warplanes struck the PKK targets in the regions of Zap, Avashin, Hakurk and on Qandil Mountain, adding all planes returned to their bases at 04:15 local time (GMT 0214).
The military operation was also backed by Turkish Land Forces’ long-range weapons, said the statement.
“The operations will continue in line with the necessities of the military within the scope of the authorization given to the Turkish Armed Forces in fight against terrorist organization PKK,” the statement added.
The Turkish military has launched several cross-border attacks recently in a bid to fight separatist PKK rebels, who use northern Iraq as a launch pad for attacks against Turkey.
Security operations are underway in southeastern and eastern Turkey as 100,000 Turkish troops have massed along Turkish-Iraqi borders in preparations for a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000-strong PKK rebels.
The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.