Nearly 400 Kurdish rebels killed in 2 weeks of airstrikes

Nearly 400 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been killed and hundreds injured in two weeks of Turkish airstrikes on positions in northern Iraq, the official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

The report, which could not be independently verified, said at least four PKK leaders and 30 female rebel fighters were among the dead.

Anatolia generally bases its information on security and Turkish intelligence sources.

Turkey last month launched a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria and PKK militants after a wave of attacks inside the country. But so far the Kurdish rebels have borne the brunt of dozens of airstrikes, while just three have been officially recognised as targeting IS.

“So far 390 terrorists have been rendered incapable of causing harm and another 400 have been injured, with 150 suffering serious injuries,” Anatolia said.

The PKK has meanwhile kept up its attacks on the Turkish state, killing at least 20 members of the security forces since the start of the latest cycle of violence that has shattered a ceasefire declared in 2013.

In the latest incident, a policeman was killed and another injured in an attack believed to have been carried out by the PKK in Midyat, a town in predominantly Kurdish southeast Turkey, according to the Dogan agency.

The PKK’s insurgency for greater rights and powers for Turkey’s Kurdish minority began more than 30 years ago and has left tens of thousands dead.

FRANC24/AFP