Turkish warplanes struck targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq late Monday, local Hurriyet reported on Tuesday. A total of eight fighter jets were involved in the operation, hitting the PKK targets in Qandil Mountain region in northern Iraq, and destroying ammunition depots, bunkers and shelters, said the report. The air raids were part of an escalated campaign against PKK posts in Iraq following a suicide car bombing on March 13 which killed 37 people in the capital city of Ankara. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a Kurdish militant group linked to the PKK, has claimed responsibility for the attack. On Feb. 17, a separate suicide car bomb targeted military shuttles in Ankara, killing at least 29 people and injuring 81 others. TAK also claimed responsibility for that attack. Since a two-year ceasefire between the government and the PKK disintegrated last July, Turkish security forces have launched a major campaign against the PKK in southeast Turkey, leaving over 260 members of Turkey's security forces and thousands of PKK members killed. The PKK, waging its separatist war against Turkey since 1984, is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
