Fresh Turkish air strikes leave 29 Kurd rebels dead

Turkey’s military says warplanes have conducted new air strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, killing 29 militants. A brief military statement released on Saturday says the air raids against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, targets were carried out on Thursday and Friday.

Separately, at least 12 rebels were killed as the military clashed with PKK rebels near the town of Uludere, close to Turkey’s border with Iraq on Friday, the military said. However, there was no immediate statement from the rebel group.

More than a 100 people have been killed since July in renewed clashes between the Turkish security forces and the PKK. The group has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast since 1984.

Turkey last month launched a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria and PKK militants after a wave of attacks inside the country. But so far the Kurdish rebels have borne the brunt of dozens of airstrikes, while just three have been officially recognised as targeting IS.

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“So far 390 terrorists have been rendered incapable of causing harm and another 400 have been injured, with 150 suffering serious injuries,” a news agency report said. The PKK has, meanwhile, kept up its attacks on the Turkish state, killing at least 20 members of the security forces since the start of the latest cycle of violence that has shattered a ceasefire declared in 2013.

The PKK’s insurgency for greater rights and powers for Turkey’s Kurdish minority began more than 30 years ago and has left tens of thousands dead.