ANKARA– Turkey released air operations “versus terrorist targets in the north of Syria and Iraq”, its defense ministry stated on Dec 23, after 12 of its soldiers were eliminated over 2 days.
It included that “29 targets, consisting of caverns, bunkers, shelters, oil setups and storage facilities, were damaged”.
An AFP reporter and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported strikes on Dec 23 night versus 2 oil websites in north-east Syria, near the Turkish border, without reporting any victims.
2 different attacks on Turkish bases in northern Iraq eliminated a lots soldiers.
Ankara has actually run a number of lots military posts in the location for the previous 25 years in its decades-old war versus the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group blacklisted by Turkey and a lot of its Western allies as a terrorist company.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Dec 23 required retaliation versus “terrorists” in northern Iraq and Syria.
“The blood of our soldiers has actually not been squandered, the separatist bad guys will be made to represent the blood they have actually shed,” he stated.
“We will continue with a revenge to execute our method to remove terrorism at its source up until the last terrorist is gotten rid of.”
Ankara at first revealed the deaths of 6 soldiers on Dec 23, who “fell martyred in a clash with terrorists”.
It likewise revealed 6 other soldiers had actually been eliminated in northern Iraq in an earlier attack on the night of Dec 22, which it credited to the PKK.
According to Turkish media reports, the attacks took place near Hakurk and Zap.
In October, Mr Erdogan swore to continue stepping up strikes on “terrorist” targets in Iraq and Syria.
The PKK declared obligation for a suicide attack on Oct 1 that hurt 2 policemans in Ankara. AFP