Turkey: Military operations 'kill 260 PKK terrorists'

ANKARA

More than 260 suspected PKK militants have been killed since the Turkish Armed Forces launched its operations in and outside Turkey on July 24, security sources said Friday. 

According to the sources, around 400 suspected PKK militants were also injured, including Nurettin Demirtas, the brother of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas.

Moreover, Turkish Air Forces conducted an operation with 28 F-16 jets on Friday noon that lasted until midnight, the sources added.

The operation was named “Martyr Corporal Hamza Yildirim”, who was killed in an attack in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak.

More than 65 targets were destroyed, including suspected shelters, equipment storages, ammunition dumps as well as caves.

Also details of another airstrike operation “Martyr Lieutenant Ibrahim Tanriverdi” -- named after another Turkish soldier who was killed in Sirnak -- was released.

According to the sources, more than 80 jets hit more than 100 targets in the operation in and outside Turkey belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Thursday. In the operation, 35 shelters, 15 caves, four underground caves, two underground ammunition stores, two equipment storages, and gun emplacements were destroyed.

Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist group.

Operations against the PKK are expected to continue, the sources added. 

Meanwhile, around 25 suspected PKK members set ablaze around 20 vehicles in the Kagizman town of Turkey’s northeast province of Kars, sources said.

In a separate incident in Catak town of Turkey’s eastern Van province, two suspected PKK militants were killed and one civilian was injured on Friday, sources said.

Also, a Turkish soldier was injured in an attack on the Van gendarmerie command on Friday, the sources added.

The security operations come after a string of deadly attacks on the country's security forces since the July 20 Suruc bombing in southeastern Turkey, which killed 32 people.

Turkey has responded to the bloodshed by also arresting more than 1,300 suspected supporters of groups such as Daesh and PKK.

A solution process to end the 30-year conflict between Turkey and the PKK insurgents began in 2013; in February this year senior government ministers met with HDP leaders officially for the first time. The process has stalled after the murder of a number of police officers and soldiers, which the PKK has claimed responsibility for.