In the latest violence, two Turkish police were killed in a gun attack on a police headquarters in the southern region of Adana.
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Anadolu said some 260 PKK terrorists were killed and 400 were wounded since the start of the raids.
Turkish fighter jets launched a fresh attack against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Saturday, killing eight civilians and injuring seven others in the Qandil Mountains of the Kurdistan region, a Rudaw reporter at the scene said.
In a separate incident in Catak town of Turkey’s eastern Van province, two suspected PKK militants were killed and one civilian was injured on Friday, sources said. One of the workers was killed.
Turkey is targeting the Kurds – probably the most effective ground force against Isis – with Isis presumably free to continue its attack against the Assad regime.
However Turkey shifted focus to the PKK following an assault claimed by the rebels that killed two policemen.
The PKK, which seeks to gain self-rule, has been engaged in militancy in southeastern Turkey for decades.
The PKK is presenting this as a Turkish declaration of war, and with Turkey launching several attacks in the week to follow it’s hard to disagree.
“The dialogue – slow as it was – must resume”, Selahattin Demirtas said in televised comments.
The army meanwhile issued a statement to express its thanks after “many” Turkish citizens applied to join the armed forces to “fight terrorism”.
The presence of the PKK has long been tolerated in Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq and more fighters also crossed into the area from Turkey as part of the 2013 ceasefire.
Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government says the Kurdish Worker’s Party should “withdraw” from Iraq’s Kurdish territory to prevent the death of civilians.
The PKK, considered a terror organization by Turkey and its Western allies, launched its armed campaign for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast in 1984.
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The People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which have been spearheading battles against the Islamic State group, called on the U.S.-led coalition to clarify their stance regarding the Turkish strikes.
