Turkey: Over 20 PKK Fighters Killed in Air Strikes

PKK Car Bomb Wounds Five at Military Post

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked a military post in the Mardin Province, along the Syrian border overnight, wounding five people, four of them identified as soldiers. The Turkish military responded with a flurry of airstrikes.

Turkish officials say over 20 PKK fighters were killed in the airstrikes, and that they destroyed several PKK targets. They also said strikes in Sirnak and Hakkari yesterday had destroyed PKK gun positions and shelters.

These 20 killed follow up on Turkish military reports of at least 42 PKK fighters killed on Monday and Tuesday, which included both airstrikes against targets within Turkey and in northern Iraq. Three Turkish soldiers were killed over those two days.

Turkey has been fighting with the PKK since 1984, though a multi-year ceasefire ended last July, leading to an offensive against the PKK which, according to Turkish officials has killed well over 5,000 PKK fighters.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.