Alwaght- Turkey has once again conducted airstrikes inside Iraq killing 22 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants despite objections by the Iraqi government which terms the incursions a violations of the country's sovereignty.
Military sources in Ankara say 29 PKK militants were killed in several air operations in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey on Sunday.
A military official speaking on condition of anonymity said "thirteen PKK terrorists were killed in northern Iraq's Avasin-Basyan regions in an airstrike early Sunday while they were preparing to launch an armed attack."
In addition, 13 PKK terrorists were killed in two different air operations in northern Iraq early Sunday, the Hakkari governorate said in a statement.
Meanwhile three PKK militants were killed in Turkey in an air operation in Hakkari's rural area in the Armutlu district of Kavakli village, according to another statement by the Hakkari governorate.
Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al Abadi condemned Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq and called the move as “the violation of international law and the Iraqi sovereignty”.
Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi was also quoted last April as saying, “Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq is negatively affecting the efforts of Iraq and the international community in the war against terrorism,”
Turkey claims that the PKK, which has carried out a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, has camps in the mountains of northern Iraq.
A shaky ceasefire between the PKK, which has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984, and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against the PKK positions in the country’s troubled southeastern border region as well as northern Iraq and Syria.
