Turkish jets strike Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq - source

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Sunday night, a security source told Reuters, and Turkey's Defence Ministry confirmed that it had launched an operation with its jets. "The Claw-Eagle Operation has started.

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Sunday night, a security source told Reuters, and Turkey's Defence Ministry confirmed that it had launched an operation with its jets.

"The Claw-Eagle Operation has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists' heads," the ministry said on Twitter, without providing further information. Turkey regularly targets Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, both in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based.

The source said the warplanes took off from various bases in Turkey, notably in the southeastern cities of Diyarbakir and Malatya, and struck PKK camps in Iraq, including in the area of the group's stronghold at Qandil, near the Iranian border. The PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, focused in southeast Turkey.

While Turkish warplanes frequently target PKK targets in northern Iraq, Turkey has also warned in recent years of a potential ground offensive targeting the PKK bases in the Qandil mountains.