Turkey strikes northern Iraq from air, says it kills PKK members

Turkey hit northern Iraq with airstrikes on Monday and claimed to have killed 16 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) sheltering there.

The Turkish defense ministry said the PKK militants had been "neutralized" in the Hakurk, Metina and Gara regions of northern Iraq.

The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Last month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Erbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region, about the continued presence of PKK fighters in northern Iraq.

Baghdad labeled the group a "banned organization" in March.



Reuters