Turkish fighter jets attacked targets in northern Iraq on Monday, the Turkish military said, the fifth major strike against Kurdish rebels this year. The planes hit 70 targets that were "detected and verified by intelligence sources," the Turkish military said in a possible reference to the U.S. intelligence it is receiving.
The Turkish government has fought for more than two decades against Kurdish rebels who seek autonomy in southeastern Turkey. For years, the PKK rebel group has launched attacks into Turkish territory from virtual safe havens in northern Iraq.
The warplanes hit PKK targets in the Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq during a 12-hour operation, the military said on its website.
Turkey has confirmed a total of five aerial attacks inside Iraq since Dec. 16, though Iraqi Kurdish officials have reported other airstrikes.
As in previous raids, there was no immediate way to independently assess the effect of the latest strike in a remote mountainous region.
Adem Uzun, a member of the rebel command, said 15 to 20 Turkish jets bombed rebel areas in northern Iraq, according to Firat, a Kurdish news agency. The rebels suffered no casualties, the news agency reported, citing an interview with Uzun by a Denmark-based Kurdish TV station.
Senior Iraqi Kurdish officials said earlier Monday that Turkish jets bombed mostly abandoned areas near the towns of Khnera, Khwakurd and Sidakan.
There were no casualties among civilians or Iraqi Kurd fighters, said Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary at the ministry governing the forces.
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