Turkey launches retaliatory operations against militants in Iraq, Syria

Turkey has bombed multiple locations allegedly linked to Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq in retaliation for the deaths of nine Turkish soldiers in Iraq, the defence ministry said.

The raids on Saturday came one day after an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq resulted in the soldiers’ deaths.

The ministry said the attacks targeted 29 locations – including “caves, bunkers, shelters and oil installations” belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish group which has been a central element in the United States-allied coalition against ISIS (ISIL).

As a result of the operations, Turkish security forces killed nine PKK/YPG militants in northern Syria, and 23 in northern Iraq, the National Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, 113 people were arrested for suspected links with the PKK in nationwide raids, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.