Turkiye launches heavy airstrikes on PKK in Northern Iraq

Last Update: 2024-12-20 16:20:28 - Source: Shafaq News

Shafaq News/ Turkish warplanes carried out intense strikeson Friday, targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Al-Amadiyadistrict, northern Duhok province, a security source reported.

“The airstrikes focused specifically on mountain peaks nearthe Shiladze sub-district, within the Gara mountain range overlooking Al-Amadiya,”the source told Shafaq News.

Details on casualties or material losses resulting from thestrikes remain unclear, the source added.

The conflict between Turkiye and the PKK has its origins inthe early 1980s when the PKK began its armed struggle for an independentKurdish state within Turkiye. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, this conflictescalated into a full-scale insurgency, with the PKK employing guerrillatactics and the Turkish military responding with major operations targeting PKKstrongholds, both within Turkiye and across the border in northern Iraq.

In August, following high-level security discussions inAnkara, Turkiye and Iraq signed an agreement aimed at strengthening military,security, and counter-terrorism cooperation, explicitly focused on combatingthe PKK. This accord includes the establishment of joint coordination andtraining centers in Baghdad and the Bashiqa region in northern Iraq.