Turkish jets hit PKK targets in N. Iraq

ANKARA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish military jets shelled the Qandil mountains late on Monday to destroy the hide-outs of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, private Dogan news agency reported Tuesday.

Launching a cross-border military air operation, four Turkish F- 16 jets struck 12 PKK targets at 23:00 local time (2000 GMT), according to the report.

Earlier on Monday, six Turkish F-16 jets took off from the eighth Main Jet Base in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey, passed over the southeastern province of Hakkari and bombarded 18 different targets in the Zap, Haftanin and Metina regions in northern Iraq.

PKK attacks in Turkey intensifies during summer times, as the organization retreats into its camps in northern Iraq during winter.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in south-eastern Turkey. Since then, over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.

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