Turkey says it killed 13 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq

PHOTO CAPTION: A Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle is seen during a demonstration flight at Teknofest aerospace and technology festival in Baku, Azerbaijan May 27, 2022. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish forces targeted Kurdish militants in northern Iraq with air strikes, killing 13 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The PKK militants were "neutralised" in the Gara and Haftanin regions of northern Iraq, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry's use of the term "neutralised" generally means killed.

Turkey's military previously conducted air strikes in northern Iraq on Friday and destroyed 25 Kurdish militant targets, the defence ministry said in an earlier statement. It said those targets included caves, shelters, bunkers, depots and facilities.

The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Burcu Karakas; Editing by Daren Butler, Alexandra Hudson)

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