Kurdish guerrillas suffered no casualties in recent Turkish air strikes on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Iraqi Kurdistan, the PKK’s armed wing, the People’s Defence Forces (HPG) said on Wednesday, refuting statements by the Turkish Defence Ministry.
The ministry said on Tuesday that “a large number of terrorists were neutralised with the maximum use of domestic and national ammunition” in the air operation launched against the regions of Metina, Biradost, Balekayetî, Amediyê and Qandil in northern Iraq.
Turkish forces have been carrying out intensive air strikes against Kurdish guerrillas since Sunday night in retaliation for the PKK’s bombing of the General Security Directorate, the main police headquarters under the Interior Ministry in Ankara.
According to the Fırat News Agency (ANF), in a statement detailing the Turkish forces’ attacks on guerrilla positions, the HPG also claimed that Turkey had bombed the conflict areas twice with banned explosives, 10 times with chemical gases and 20 times with explosive-laden drones, an act the group defined as a “war crime”.
The HPG said it had responded to these attacks by the Turkish army with effective measures, claiming that three Turkish soldiers had lost their lives in the clashes.
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