Turkish Jets Strike Kurdish Rebel Targets in Northern Iraq

Turkish jets carried out new raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq
Turkish Jets Strike Kurdish Rebel Targets in Northern Iraq
A U.S. military fighter jet participates in a NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission practice mission in the Tapa training area, some 43 miles southwest of Tallinn, Estonia on April 8, 2015. (Mindaugas Kulbis/File Photo/AP)
The Associated Press
11/3/2015
Updated:
11/3/2015

ANKARA, Turkey—Turkish jets carried out new raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq, the military said Tuesday as the ruling party pressed ahead with anti-rebel operations after winning a resounding victory in Sunday’s election.

The Turkish airstrikes hit shelters, underground bunkers and weapon emplacements belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in six locations Monday in northern Iraq, including the Qandil mountains where the rebel leadership is based, the military said in a statement.

Inside Turkey, authorities declared a curfew in certain parts of the mainly Kurdish town of Silvan, where security forces clashed with PKK rebels. At least two militants were killed, the local governor’s office said.

The military has been striking at PKK bases and hideouts since July, when renewed fighting between the rebels and Turkish security forces shattered a fragile peace process that had begun in 2012.

Monday’s airstrikes were the first attack on PKK targets in Iraq since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party captured more than 49 percent of the vote Sunday, regaining a parliamentary majority it lost in June.

The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.