ANKARA — Turkey carried out on Tuesday fresh airstrikes in five northern Iraqi regions in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Ankara by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) over the weekend.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said 16 new targets, including caves, bunkers and warehouses in the northern Iraqi regions of Metina, Gara, Qandil, Hakurk and Assos, were destroyed in the strikes.
These airstrikes represented the second wave of attacks in northern Iraq that Turkey initiated following the assault on the main gate of Turkey's national police headquarters in the capital on Sunday. The attack left two police officers injured and resulted in the death of two militants. Turkish forces previously hit 20 targets in Metina, Hakurk, Qandil and Gara late on Sunday. The PKK, claiming responsibility for the attack, maintains bases scattered across the mountainous region of northern Iraq. The militant group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Simultaneously, Turkish authorities conducted over 450 counterterrorism operations within the country on Tuesday, with Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announcing the rounding up of at least 90 individuals in raids across 18 different provinces, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency.
