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News ID: 84211
Publish Date : 27 October 2020 - 22:04

Turkey Kills 6 PKK Militants in Iraq Incursion

ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkish forces have killed six members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in an incursion in northern Iraq, its defense ministry said Tuesday.
The six PKK members, who were detected through reconnaissance and surveillance, were killed in airstrikes in the Zap and Gara regions, the ministry said on Twitter.
The Turkish Armed Forces have been carrying out operations inside Iraqi territory, which has enraged the Iraqi government over Ankara’s violation of its sovereignty.
The PKK has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region and is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984, and the conflict has led to the loss of tens of thousands of lives since then.
A day earlier, a suspected militant affiliated with the PKK killed himself by detonating explosives following a police chase near Turkey’s border with Syria, and a second suspect was slain by security forces, officials said.
The governor of Turkey’s Hatay province says a small number of people were also injured in the incident in the town of Iskenderun, but none of them were in serious condition.
Gov. Rahmi Dogan said police tried to stop the militants’ vehicle at a road block close to the nearby town of Payas, triggering the police chase that continued into Iskenderun.
The suspects then tried to escape on foot. According to Dogan, one of them died after setting off an explosion, while the second was killed by the security forces. CNN-Turk television said the explosion was caused by a hand grenade.
The explosion caused significant damage to cars and shops, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Earlier, it said police, fire service rescuers and medical teams were dispatched to the area.