Turkey strikes northern Iraq from air, says it kills PKK members

PHOTO CAPTION: A Turkish Air Force F-4 Phantom pilot conducts a mobile aircraft arresting system (MAAS) equipment certification procedure, Sept. 20, 2023, at Incirlik Air Base, Türkiye. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Peter Reft via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey hit northern Iraq with air strikes on Monday and claimed to have killed 16 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) sheltering there.

The Turkish defence ministry said the PKK militants had been "neutralised" in the Hakurk, Metina and Gara regions of northern Iraq.

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.

Last month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Erbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region, about the continued presence of PKK fighters in northern Iraq.

Baghdad labelled the group a "banned organisation" in March.



(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Burcu Karakas and Peter Graff)