Turkish warplanes have
bombed northern Iraq in the lates t attack inside the Arab country
without coordination with the government in Baghdad.
The
Turkish military said the warplanes struck seven targets in the
Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq, and killed 13 militants of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Sunday.
Those killed were believed to be preparing for an attack against Turkey, the military said in a statement.
In
a separate airstrike in Turkey's southeastern province of Van late on
Saturday, the military said warplanes had killed another 10 PKK
militants.
PKK militants have been waging a bloody campaign in southeastern Turkey for decades, which has left more than 40,000 people dead. Turkey regularly bombs the mountainous border area between Iraq and Turkey where PKK militants are based. Ankara
has also deployed troops into the Iraqi soil, triggering a diplomatic
crisis with Baghdad which brought them to the brink of a war at one
point.
The troops are based in a town near the northern Iraqi city
of Mosul, which is currently the focus of a massive operation to
recapture it from Daesh terrorists.
Baghdad has repeatedly called
on Ankara to withdraw its forces, describing the military presence as a
violation of its sovereignty, and warned that the troops stood to
complicate the Mosul battle. Iraqi
tribesmen hold posters bearing a portrait of President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan crossed out during a protest against the continued presence of
Turkish troops in northern Iraq outside the governorate building in the
southern city of Basra, October 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)Turkey
deployed its troops to Iraq in December 2015, claiming that it was part
of a mission to train Iraqi Kurdish forces in the fight against Daesh.
Some 500 Turkish forces are said to be present at the Bashiqa military
camp on the outskirts of Mosul. Read more:
In April, Turkey’s pro-government Yeni Safak daily said Ankara planned to launch a military incursion into northern Iraq.
Dubbed
Tigris Shield, the mission would involve thousands of tanks, vehicles
and artillery pieces used in Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield in
Syria, which ended in March after seven months, the report added.
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said then Operation Euphrates Shield was
only the "first stage" of what he called Turkey’s counter-terrorism
battle, warning that the next phases of the operation would be broader,
and include the Iraqi areas of Sinjar and Tal Afar.
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