Turkish forces carried out intensive air strikes on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrilla positions in several regions of Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday night.
The military strikes by warplanes came after the People’s Defence Centre (HSM) carried out a bomb attack against the Security General Directorate, the main police headquarters under the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara.
The Turkish Ministry of Defence announced that “a large number of terrorists were neutralised with the maximum use of domestic and national ammunition” in the air operation launched at around 21:00 local time against the regions of Metina, Biradost, Balekayetî, Amediyê and Qandil.
The People’s Defence Forces (HPG), the military wing of the PKK, said last week that the guerrillas had effectively repelled the latest attacks and that Turkey had failed to achieve its objectives in its cross-border operations, in a statement that contradicted those of Turkey. The group also accused Turkish forces, which it said had run out of tactics in the Zap region, of using banned explosives and chemical gases in their military operations against Kurdish guerrillas.
The HSM described the bombing in Ankara as a firm warning to the Turkish government against its policy of isolation, its alleged use of chemical weapons and what they called ‘fascist attacks’.