Turkey launches air strikes in Iraq and Syria after 12 soldiers killed

Turkey conducted air strikes on “terrorist targets in northern Iraq and Syria” after 12 soldiers were killed in two separate attacks over two days.

The Turkish defence ministry said on Saturday that “29 targets, including oil facilities and warehouses, were destroyed” in the strikes. Six Turkish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in an attack in northern Iraq, the ministry said in a statement earlier in the day.

[ Turkey mounts air strikes in Iraq and Syria after clashes with PKK militants ]

“Soldiers clashed with terrorists who tried to infiltrate an outpost. Thirteen terrorists have been neutralised,” according to the ministry. Six Turkish soldiers died in a separate incident late Friday.

The Turkish army has been fighting the autonomy-seeking Kurdish PKK in Iraq and affiliated YPG militants in Syria for several years. Turkey, the US and the European Union have designated the PKK a terrorist organisation.