Turkish military eliminates 9 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq

THE TURKISH military eliminated nine PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, the Defense Ministry said yesterday.

Four terrorists were killed in the Operation Claw-1 area, three in Claw-Lock and two in the Claw-Tiger region, the ministry said on Twitter.

Turkey has launched successive operations against the PKK in northern Iraq since 2020, most recently starting Operation Claw-Lock in April to target PKK hideouts in Iraq’s Metina region.

That was preceded by Operations ClawTiger and Claw-Eagle, which were launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Turkey.

The PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey’s southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq.

Turkey has long stressed that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who vowed to “clean up” parts of northern Iraq, accuses the PKK of using the mountainous border area as a springboard for its insurgency.

In the last two years, the intensifying operations in northern Iraq have demolished the terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the organization’s influence in these regions, Turkey also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.

The Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq are the PKK’s stronghold and the group is active in many nearby cities and towns. It occupies a large number of villages in the region from where it launches attacks on Turkey. Turkish intelligence learned that the Makhmour camp was as important as Qandil for the terrorists as they were able to recruit and train members under its guise. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, in the meantime, has also called the PKK’s presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged militants to leave the area.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.