Turkey's armed forces neutralized 19 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Monday in a new cross-border operation in northern Iraq.
"According to preliminary reports, 19 terrorists were neutralized in the "Claw-Castle" special operation. Four of our servicemen were wounded," the Turkish Ministry of National Defense reported.
The Turkish Armed Forces launched a new military operation against PKK members in northern Iraq on Monday night, involving the country's air force and special forces units. Turkish fighter jets carried out air strikes in the Iraqi regions of Metin, Zap and Avasin. Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the goals set in the first stage of the operation were achieved. He also added that the only goal of the Turkish military is to eliminate the terrorists. Maximum care is being taken to ensure that civilians, the environment, cultural and religious sites are not damaged.
Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization and a major threat to national security. The Turkish Armed Forces periodically target sites in Iraq where the organization has camps, hideouts, command posts and weapons caches. The military has been sanctioned for such cross-border operations by the Parliament which has been extending the relevant mandate for a year over the past years. Baghdad, in turn, condemns the actions of the Turkish military, calling them a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
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Based on materials from TASS