Turkey is planning to maintain a permanent presence in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the ongoing land and air operations against the Kurdish militants there, security sources told Al-Monitor. Turkey’s Operation Claw against outlawed Kurdish militants Iraqi Kurdistan’s northern Hakurk region has been going on for nearly a month.
Hakurk is located on some 32,000 acres next to the Mount Qandil, the strategic headquarters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The Kurdish peshmerga cannot control this area because of its rough terrain and harsh weather conditions. Turkey has said it has so far killed or captured 51 PKK militants and destroyed more than 100 shelters and logistics facilities in the region. Turkey along with most Western powers consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
More than 4,000 Turkish soldiers of two commando brigades and some special forces teams have joined the operation in which four Turkish soldiers have been killed.
Turkey’s domestically produced surface-to-surface
Bora missile was used for the first time in the operation backed by TB-2 armed drones and F-16s, all of them commanded from the Turkey’s southeastern border province of Hakkari.
With Bora missiles and Turkey’s Storm Howitzers deployed across the border, Ankara has boosted its 40-kilometer (27-mile) maximum range of fire to 280 kilometer (174 miles). Ankara is sure to use more Bora missiles against PKK targets in the future in its fight against terror in Iraq and Syria.
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