Turkey strikes Kurdish militants in Iraq, Syria

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Turkey overnight Monday conducted airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, as Ankara continues to retaliate after more than a dozen of its troops were killed in recent weeks.

From about 10 p.m. Monday, Turkish war planes struck 23 targets in Metina, Gara, Hakurk and Qandil in northern Iraq and in unspecified regions of Syria.

Caves, shelters, tunnels and warehouses were among the targets, it said.

"In these operations, a large number of terrorists were neutralized by using domestic and national ammunition to the maximum extent," Ankara's ministry of defense said in a statement.

"The Turkish Armed Forces ... will continue the fight against terrorism for the survival and security of our country and our nation with determination and determination until the last terrorist is neutralized, as in the past."

Turkey has been unleashing airstrikes against the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, over recent attacks by the Kurdish militants on Turkish troops.

At least 15 Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes with Kurdish militants attempting to infiltrate Ankara bases in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Six were killed on Dec. 23, and nine were killed on Friday.

Formed in the late 1970s, the Marxist-Leninist PKK seeks an independent Kurdistan and has been in conflict with Turkey since at least 1984, when it began its armed insurgency against Ankara, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, Canada and other Western allies.