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Turkey stages artillery strikes on Kurd fighters in Iraq
July 27, 2024
Article Body TextIstanbul, Turkey — <p>Turkey staged new artillery strikes against Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq, the defense ministry and Iraqi sources said Saturday.</p> <p>While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month said operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Iraq were coming to an end, a security source in northern Iraq said the latest overnight shelling was "intense."</p> <p>"In line with our right to self-defense ... air operations were carried out against terrorist targets in northern Iraq, in the Gara, Qandil and Asos regions," Turkey's defense ministry said in a statement.</p> <p>The Turkish army named 25 targets, including PKK "cellars, bunkers, shelters, stores and installations." Turkey and most of its Western allies consider the PKK to be a terrorist group. It has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984.</p> <p>Kamran Othman, a member of the Community Peacemakers Teams, or CPT, group working in Iraqi Kurdistan, said the attacks lasted about 45 minutes and there were no civilian victims of the shelling.</p> <p>The Turkish army said it had "neutralized several terrorists."</p> <p>CPT says it has recorded more than 230 artillery shelling incidents since June 15, some of which have started fires on agricultural land and hit civilians.</p> <p>Turkey says it wants to establish a security zone in northern Iraq and Syria to prevent militant incursions into their territory.</p>
Content TypeText
LanguageEnglish
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
Subtitles / Dubbing AvailableNo
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJuly 27, 2024 13:08 EDT
BylineAgence France-Presse
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
