HAKKARI, Turkey, Aug. 11 (UPI) — The Turkish air force launched Tuesday a string of overnight air strikes against Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country.
Seventeen targets were the subject of attacks by Turkish military planes, located in the Hakkari province on the country’s border with Iran and Iraq. News of the airstrikes comes a day after nine individuals were killed by militants, some of them in southeast of the country.
The militants belong to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which had brokered a ceasefire with Turkish forces that disintegrated in July, when the PKK assumed responsibility for killing two policemen in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. In response, Turkey began bombing PKK camps alongside airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.
The PKK formed in the 1970s and began combating the Turkish government in 1984, demanding an independent Kurdish state within Turkey. The group has roots in Marxist and Leninist schools of thought.
In addition to the airstrikes, Tuesday also saw Kurdish militants attacking a Turkish army base in Sirnak, taking one casualty. Shoot-outs between Turkish and PKK forces also ensued throughout the night.
The PKK accuses Turkey of using its anti-IS campaign to mask attacks on PKK individuals, a claim that the government denies. The government considers the PKK a terrorist organization just like the Islamic State, as do various Western countries.
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