Turkey's warplanes have successfully bombed several Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the country's army said in a statement.
The army said that its warplanes successfully carried out a bombing operation on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) hideouts in the regions of Hakurk, Avashin-Basyan and Zap in northern Iraq. The army said that the air raid was backed by heavy artillery firing, but did not mention the causalities among the rebel ranks.
The tensions in the region escalated after PKK rebels, based in northern Iraq, carried out a cross border attack on a border outpost in southeastern Turkey in October, killing 15 soldiers and injuring 20 others.
Since then, Turkey has launched several cross-border air raids on PKK targets in northern Iraq, and recently the Turkish Parliament extended the government's mandate to order cross-border military strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq by a year.
The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by most of the international community including the United States and the EU, has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey for more than two decades. It is estimated that at least 37,000 people have died in the violence.
by RTTNews Staff Writer
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