Turkey launches intervention in northern Iraq with deadly airstrikes

At least 12 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were “neutralised” by Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq, Turkey’s military said on Twitter on Wednesday, as Baghdad approved Turkish military operations on its border.

The militants were believed to be preparing an attack, the Turkish military claimed, when the airstrike hit the Hakurk region of northern Iraq.

“12 armed members of the separatist terror organisation, who were in preparations for an attack, were neutralised in northern Iraq/Hakurk by an airstrike carried out on March 20,” the military said, using the term it applies to PKK.

Fighting between the Turkish security forces and the PKK has intensified since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in 2015.

The Turkish military often conducts air raids against PKK militants who have bases in the Qandil mountain area of Iraq, and troops sometimes stage incursions into the area.

Ankara on January 20 launched a cross-border air and ground operation in northern Syria supporting Syrian rebels against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Turkey says the YPG is a "terrorist" offshoot of the PKK, though the militia has been working with the United States against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria.

On Wednesday, Iraqi authorities confirmed Baghdad agreed to Turkey conducting military operations along the joint borders, according to local reports.

Ankara launched the operations “to purge the borders from terrorist pockets in collaboration with the Iraqi government”, Turkish ambassador to Iraq Fateh Yildiz said, according to an Iraqi Justice Ministry statement.

“Turkey is prepared to cooperate with the Iraqi government in the field of counter-terrorism and entrenching the sovereignty of both countries,” the statement quoted Yildiz saying.

“Iraq has shown good intentions in Turkish demands related to the security on joint borders”, adding that “the political and security situation requires new agreements,” Iraqi Justice Minister Haider al-Zamili said after a meeting with Yildiz in Baghdad, local Iraqi News reported.