Turkish Warplanes Strike Kurdish Targets in Northern Iraq

Turkey launched a series of airstrikes overnight between Sunday and Monday against 81 targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is based in northern Iraq but is seeking autonomy for Kurdish citizens of Turkey. “Operation Claw-Eagle has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists’ heads,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said on its Twitter account. “The PKK and other terrorist elements are threatening the security of our people and borders, with attacks increasing every day….” The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization not only by Turkey, but by the United States and the European Union. The Defense Ministry later stated that the targets had been in Qandil, which is close to Iraq’s border with Iran, as well as in the Iraqi regions of Sinjar, Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk. Ankara has launched occasional ground-based incursions into Iraq in an effort to snuff out PKK targets.