Turkey Bombs Kurds in Iraq after Car Bomb Kills, Injures Dozens in Ankara

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Turkey Bombs Kurds in Iraq after Car Bomb Kills, Injures Dozens in Ankara

Turkey’s air force hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq Monday, hours after a car-bombing that killed 37 people in the Turkish capital, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Anadolu Agency says nine F-16s and two F-4 jets raided 18 positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK in the northern Iraq, including the Qandil mountains where the group’s leadership is based.

Police meanwhile carried out raids in the southern city of Adana, detaining suspected rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the agency reported.

The private Dogan news agency said at least 36 suspects were taken under custody.

Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said three more people died overnight from wounds suffered in the Sunday night attack that targeted buses and people waiting at bus stops at the heart of Ankara. Scores of others were injured.

A senior government official told The Associated Press that authorities believe the attack was carried out by two bombers – one of them a woman – and was the work of Kurdish militants. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

It was the second deadly attack blamed on Kurdish militants in the capital in the past month.

For his p[art, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “defeat terrorists” who have staged a series of attacks on Turkey in the past 18 months.

“These attacks, which threaten our country’s integrity and our nation’s unity and solidarity, do not weaken our resolve in fighting terrorism but bolster our determination,” he said in a statement.

“Our people should not worry, the struggle against terrorism will for certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees.”