Turkish jets launch missile strike in northern Iraq

The bombing came on Saturday, targeting “the vicinity of the Huror village in Amadiyah district”, Iraq’s Shafaq News website reported. 

The district is located north of the city of Duhok, which is the capital of a province of the same name in the Kurdish-populated region. 

The report cited eyewitnesses as saying the operation saw the aircraft releasing as many as “14 air-to-ground missiles” near the village. 

“The Turkish bombardment has caused grave damages to the farms and nearby forests,” the witnesses added. 

Turkey specifies the target of the operations as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The militant group has been engaged in a 1984-present conflict against Ankara, which it has been waging with the aim of carving out a separatist state in southeastern Turkey. 

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since. 

At least 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade-long conflict. 

The Saturday operation came less than a week after a number of rockets targeted a military base in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, where Turkish military forces are engaged in operations against PKK’s positions.