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Turkish jets hit Kurdish militants in Iraq and Isis targets in Syria Turkish jets hit Kurdish militants in Iraq and Isis targets in Syria
(about 3 hours later)
Turkish jets struck camps belonging to Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, authorities said on Saturday – the first strike since a 2013 peace deal – as Ankara also bombed Islamic State positions in Syria. Turkey has launched overnight airstrikes against several positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s party (PKK) in northern Iraq for the first time in four years, the country’s government has said.
The strikes in Iraq targeted the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, whose affiliates have been effective in battling Isis. The strikes further complicate the US-led war against the extremists, which has relied on Kurdish forces making gains in both Iraq and Syria. The air raids put an end to a two-year ceasefire between the Turkish government and the PKK, severely endangering the already fragile peace process started in 2012 in an attempt to end a bloody conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over 30 years.
According to the office of the acting prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, the bombs hit several PKK targets in northern Iraq, including shelters, bunkers, storage facilities and the Qandil mountains, where the PKK’s high command is based.
Turkish fighter jets also targeted Islamic State positions in Syria for the second night in a row, the statement said. In addition to the air raids, the Turkish military carried out artillery attacks against Isis in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq.
“Strikes were carried out on targets of the Daesh [Isis] terrorist group in Syria and the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq,” the prime minister’s office said.
It is the first time Turkish fighter jets have entered Syrian airspace to attack Isis militants on Syrian soil. Previous air raids were conducted from the Turkish side of the border, according to the Turkish government.
Related: US defense chief meets with Kurds in Iraq to build strategy against IsisRelated: US defense chief meets with Kurds in Iraq to build strategy against Isis
Zagros Hiwa, a spokesman in Iraq for the PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for autonomy since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its allies, said the strikes was likely to spell the end of 2013 peace agreement. In a major tactical shift this week, Turkey decided to take a more active role in the US-led coalition fighting gainst Isis, agreeing to open its airbases to allied forces as well as carrying out its own air raids.
“Turkey has basically ended the cease-fire,” Hiwa said, declining to elaborate further. He said the PKK was still assessing the damage caused by the strikes, though they didn’t appear to cause casualties. In a first reaction to the attacks on their camps, the PKK leadership said that the ceasefire with Ankara had lost all meaning: “The ceasefire has been unilaterally ended by the Turkish state and the Turkish military,” said a statement on the PKK website on Saturday. “The truce has no meaning anymore after these intense airstrikes by the occupant Turkish army.”
The jets hit PKK shelters, bunkers, caves, storages facilities and other “logistical points”, a statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office said. It said areas targeted included the Qandil mountains, where the PKK’s command is based. The group said the fallout and consequences of the overnight attacks would be disclosed later.
The statement did not specify Isis targets that were struck in Syria in a second night of bombings, but described the airstrikes in Syria and Iraq as being “effective”. The double raids on both the PKK and Isis came after a wave of violence swept across the country last week. On Monday, a suicide bomber killed 31 Kurdish and Turkish activists in the southern border town of Suruç, in an attack that Turkish officials blamed on Isis.
Turkey’s military also shelled Isis and PKK positions in Syria from across the Turkish border, the government said. After the bombing, tension has risen to dangerous levels in the predominantly Kurdish south-east, where many have long accused the Turkish government of directly supporting Isis against the Kurdish struggle in Syria, a charge Ankara denies.
Tensions have flared with Kurds in recent days after an Isis suicide bombing in the south-eastern Turkish city of Suruc on Monday killed 32 people. Kurdish groups held the Turkish government responsible for the blast, saying it had not been aggressive in battling Isis. Later in the week the People’s Defence Force (HPG), the armed wing of the PKK, claimed responsibility for the killing of two police officers in Ceylanpınar, a town on the Syrian border, in retaliation for the Suruç bomb.
On Wednesday, the PKK claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish police officers near the Kurdish majority city of Sanliurfa, near the Syrian border. A police officer was killed in Diyarbakır on Thursday, while another officer was kidnapped there on Friday night. Violent protests against the ruling AKP’s failed Syria policies and their stalling of the Kurdish peace process have erupted in several cities all over Turkey.
In other attacks, seven police officers were wounded after suspected PKK militants hurled a small bomb at a police station in the town of Bismil, near the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, the Dogan news agency reported on Friday. Assailants also hurled a small bomb at officers inside a police vehicle in the town of Semdinli, near the border with Iraq, the agency said. In two subsequent anti-terror raids across Turkey, hundreds were detained on Friday and Saturday, including people with suspected links to Isis and to PKK.
Turkey started attacking Isis positions after the suicide bombing and an extremist ambush that killed a Turkish soldier. After the operations, the leftist Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) accused the government of trying to cover up its anti-Kurdish policies with a “pretend crackdown” on Isis.
On Friday, three F-16 jets struck Isis targets that included two command centres and a gathering point near the Turkish border in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine Isis militants were killed in the raids. The extremists have yet to comment on the strikes.
Turkey also announced on Friday it was allowing its air bases to be used by the US-led coalition forces for operations against Isis extremists. Turkey until now had been reluctant to take part in US-led coalition air strikes against Isis.