28-03-2024 01:40 PM Jerusalem Timing

Turkish Strikes on PKK in Iraq Kill at least 6

Turkish Strikes on PKK in Iraq Kill at least 6

Turkish strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq killed at least six people on Saturday, officials said, as Ankara’s bombardment of the Kurdish rebel group entered its second week.

Turkish strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq killed at least six people on Saturday, officials said, as Ankara's bombardment of the Kurdish rebel group entered its second week.

Turkish flagsAt around 4:00 am (0100 GMT) Turkish warplanes struck the village of Zarkel, in the Rawanduz area east of Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

One local official, Nehro Abdullah, said two women were among six people killed in the raid, which he said completely destroyed several buildings.

He did not say whether the other victims were members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an organization outlawed in Turkey which has for years been sheltering in mountain regions on the Iraqi side of the border.

"We have received six bodies and eight wounded following the Turkish raids," said Maqsud Ismail Omar, a doctor and the head of the health directorate in the nearby town of Soran.

Ankara has launched a two-pronged "anti-terror" offensive against Takfiri group, ISIL (so-called Islamic State IN Iraq and Levant) in Syria and PKK militants after a wave of attacks inside the country.