Eight members of the outlawed Kurdish separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed Monday during Turkish military operations in northern Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
According to the Turkish government, five PKK members were killed in an air-supported operation in the Gara region and three others were hit by a Turkish armed remote-controlled drone in the Zap region.
The Turkish military launched a ground and air operation against the PKK on the other side of the border with Iraq on April 23rd. Ankara frequently conducts operations against the Kurdish armed separatist movement on Iraqi soil, despite tensions with Baghdad.
The PKK, an organization that Turkey, the US and the EU call “terrorist”, has been waging a guerrilla war against Turkish authorities for more than 30 years. It is estimated that at least 40,000 people have lost their lives in this “low-intensity” armed conflict.
