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PKK Camps Hit by Artillery, Air Strikes: Turkish General Staff |
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Thursday, 18 August 2011Turkey’s military completed a number of successful strikes against targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq late Wednesday, the General Staff said in an official report released Thursday morning.
"An aerial assault against 60 pre-determined targets belonging to the separatist organization was completed successfully," the report said.
The report revealed that 168 additional targets were struck by "intense" artillery fire from the Turkish side of the border prior to the air strike.
"Such operations will be carried out within and outside of Turkey with determination until the separatist organization is neutralized," the report said.
'Panther' squadron carried out strikes
The Turkish government ordered the Air Force Command to initiate an aerial assault at around 3 p.m. Wednesday, after which unmanned aircraft were launched to locate PKK targets in the area, daily Hürriyet reported on its website Thursday.
Fourteen F-16 warplanes from the 181st air squadron, known as the "Panther" squadron, took off from the airbase in Diyarbakır in two wings at around 8 p.m. The squadron’s planes are what are known as "lantern" planes because of their night-vision and night-bombardment capabilities.
The planes first took out 17 anti-aircraft battery installations belonging to the PKK before attacking other targets, Hürriyet's report said.
Laser-guided MAC 82-84 bombs, each weighing two tons, were used in the operation.
Camps where PKK leaders Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan are known to be hiding were also struck.
The first wave of air strikes was completed by 11 p.m. Six F-16s that took off from Diyarbakır air base at around 2:45 a.m. Thursday struck PKK camps in a second wave of attacks, the report said.
The strikes came in response to a PKK ambush Wednesday morning in which eight soldiers and one village guard were killed. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. |
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Hurriyet Daily News&Economic Review
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