Turkish warplanes killed at least three PKK terrorists in an air strike operation carried out in the Şemdinli district of the southeastern Hakkari province on Tuesday.
The air strikes came a day after suspected PKK militants detonated a car bomb near local government offices in the city of Van further north, wounding 50 people including four police officers and four Iranian citizens.
The identified terrorists were killed in the operation between 12:01 – 12:33 a.m. local time. Security forces found weapons and smuggled items in a separate operation carried out in the forest area of the Çukurca district.One suspect was caught and is being questioned.
The military has intensified its operations against the PKK terror organization in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern provinces, as well as in northern Iraq, in an attempt to weaken the group’s support routes from Syria to Turkey, which many of its members have been using to escape the clashes in Syria.
The PKK – listed as a terror organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -has resumed its 30-year armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015. Since then, more than 600 security personnel, including troops, police officers, and village guards, and over 7,700 PKK terrorists have been killed in operations.
