Turkey launched a new attack against Kurdish militants’ bases in Northern Iraq
On Saturday, the Turkish army launched a new land and air offensive against banned Kurdish militants’ bases in northern Iraq, in what officials and local media stated.
Turkish media reported that commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters as warplanes released bombs on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets.
AFP stated that the defense ministry said in a tweet without stating how many soldiers were participated: Heroic commandos of the heroic Turkish Armed Forces are in northern Iraq. Moreover, Turkish television presented images of paratroopers jumping from helicopters and masked soldiers firing arms.
The PKK as a terror group
In fact, Turkey considers the PKK as a terror group, and the Turkish army frequently conducts cross-border operations and air raids against PKK bases in northern Iraq. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called this one Operation Claw-Lightning.
When he spoke to the operation’s command center by video link, Erdogan stated that the offensive’s aim was to completely end the presence of the terror threat…along our southern borders. He also said in reference to the Kurdish fighters: There’s no room for the separatist terror group in the future of Turkey, Iraq or Syria, adding: We will keep on fighting until we eradicate these gangs of murderers, who cause nothing but tears and destruction.
In the same context, Turkey launched, in February, an operation called Claw-Eagle 2 against PKK rebels holed up in the northern Iraqi region of Dohuk. That raid induced controversy since it was intended in part to release 12 Turkish soldiers and an Iraqi held imprisoned by the PKK in a cave.
Besides, Turkey accused the PKK of killing the 13 men, and Erdogan was criticized for not well planning the offensive from opposition parties in parliament.
