Turkey allegedly bombs PKK targets in Hakkari province

Turkish warplanes have bombed targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the southeast of the country in the first significant air operation against the militants since the launch of a peace process two years ago, media reports say.

Hurriyet daily said the air raids near the village of Daglica in Hakkari Province close to the Iraqi border caused major damage to the PKK.

“F-16 and F-4 warplanes which took off from (bases in the southeastern provinces of) Diyarbakir and Malatya rained down bombs on PKK targets after they attacked a military outpost in the Daglica region,” the Turkish daily said.
The strikes followed three days of PKK shelling on a military outpost in the Kurdish-majority province near the Iraqi border.

Ankara launched a peace process with the PKK in 2012 to end the Kurdish struggle for independence.

The PKK declared a ceasefire with Turkey last March after the PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan ordered an end to the armed campaign for autonomy.

The attacks come as Kurds in Turkey are angry at the government for preventing them from crossing into neighboring Syria to join the fight against ISIL terrorists in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani.

Ankara also refuses to intervene along its border with Syria where ISIL militants have besieged the mainly Kurdish city.

Meanwhile, Kurdish militants continue defending Kobani against the ISIL militants.

According to reports, the Takfiri militants have taken half of the Syrian city. The latest advance by the Takfiri group comes despite more than three-weeks of US-led airstrikes in Syria against ISIL positions.