28-03-2024 01:34 PM Jerusalem Timing

Turkey Launches New Strikes against ISIL, Kurdish Militants

Turkey Launches New Strikes against ISIL, Kurdish Militants

The Turkish military on Saturday carried out a second wave of strikes against targets controlled by ISIL in Syria and embarked on a new air campaign to bombard camps of Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.

The Turkish military on Saturday carried out a second wave of strikes against targets controlled by ISIL (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant) in Syria and embarked on a new air campaign to bombard camps of Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.

The two-pronged operation against ISIL and militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- two groups who are themselves bitterly opposed -- came after a week of deadly violence in Turkey the authorities blamed on the organizations.

Turkish fighter jetsTurkish F-16 war planes took off from their base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir to carry out the strikes against ISIL and the PKK and all returned safely to base early Saturday, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

The raids against ISIL, which had began before dawn Friday, marked a major shift in policy towards the group by key NATO member Turkey, which has faced severe criticism for not doing enough to combat the Takfiris.

But on this occasion planes also bombed positions of the PKK in neighboring Iraq, where the group's military forces are based.

"At around 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) tonight, Turkish warplanes started bombing our positions near the border, accompanied by heavy artillery shelling," PKK spokesman in Iraq Bakhtiar Dogan told AFP.

He said the strikes targeted mountain positions in the north of the Dohuk province, which is part of Iraq's northern autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Turkish NTV television said 20 Turkish F-16s carried out air strikes on five different areas in northern Iraq used by the PKK for shelter and training.