site.btaOver 150 Kurdish Militants Liquidated in Syria and Iraq This Month

Turkish National Defence Minister Yasar Guler said on Monday that over 150 members of "terrorist" organizations were liquidated in Turkish Air Force operations between October 1 and 8, state-owned TRT Haber television reported.

"More than 150 terrorists were liquidated in the operations of the Air Force, which were aimed at terrorist targets in Northern Iraq and Syria between October 1 and 8," Guler said. He specified that air strikes on targets in the north of Iraq were carried out on October 1, 3 and 4, and in the north of Syria on October 5, 6 and 8. The raids hit dozens of targets used mainly by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and PKK-affiliated Kurdish militants.

The operations of the Turkish Air Force in Syria and Iraq intensified after October 1, when PKK militants committed a bombing attack outside the Turkish Ministry of Interior in Ankara. The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.

The PKK, which has been locked in an armed struggle with the Turkish state since 1984, is considered by Ankara, the EU and the US as a terrorist organization. The group has bases in Northern Iraq, and militants affiliated with it are active in Northern Syria.

Turkish analysts speculate that Ankara may also be planning a massive land operation along its southern border. The Land Forces have permission to conduct operations across the border in Syria and Iraq, whose possible extension by two years will be discussed by the Turkish Parliament later in October.