Turkish military destroys 12 targets in northern Iraq

Turkish soldiers conduct military exercises near the Habur crossing gate between Turkey and Iraq on September 27, 2017 in the Silopi district, southeast Turkey. (File photo: AFP)

• The Turkish military destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party
• The targets, in northern Iraq's Qandil, Hakurk and Avasin-Basyan regions, included shelters and ammunition depots

ISTANBUL: The Turkish military destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in overnight air strikes, it said on Tuesday, as the army steps up operations against militant targets in the Qandil region.
The targets, in northern Iraq's Qandil, Hakurk and Avasin-Basyan regions, included shelters and ammunition depots, it said. Turkey's army has recently ramped up strikes against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, which has bases in the Qandil mountains.
The army also said that 34 militants had been "neutralised" in operations in northern Iraq between June 1 and June 8. The military uses the term "neutralised" to refer to operations in which opposition forces have been killed, wounded or captured.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who faces presidential elections on June 24, on Monday said Turkey would drain the "terror swamp" in Qandil.
The PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast, is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, Europe and Turkey.