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Air strikes in northern Iraq destroy Kurdish targets after the bombing within the capital, says the Turkish inside ministry.
Turkey says its warplanes have carried out raids on Kurdish targets in northern Iraq following a suicide assault on a authorities constructing in capital Ankara.
A Turkish inside ministry assertion on Sunday stated some 20 targets of the banned Kurdistan Staff’ Celebration (PKK) group have been “destroyed” within the aerial operation, together with caves, shelters and depots.
The army ramped up air strikes in Iraq’s PKK bases in Gara, Hakurk, Metina and Qandil, the assertion stated.
The strikes got here hours after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive machine close to an entrance of the inside ministry constructing in Ankara, injuring two cops. A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police.
A information company near the PKK stated the group claimed duty for the suicide attack.
A press release from the ANF information company stated the PKK deliberate the bombing to coincide with the opening of the parliament. It stated the assault was carried out by “a crew of ours linked to our Immortals Battalion” group.
The PKK is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
In accordance with the state-run Anadolu Company, the 2 attackers had seized the car from a veterinarian within the central province of Kayseri, a metropolis 260km (161 miles) southeast of Ankara.
CCTV footage confirmed a car pulling as much as the inside ministry’s essential gate and one in all its occupants rapidly strolling in the direction of the constructing earlier than being engulfed in an explosion, whereas the opposite stays on the road.
The blast killed one of many attackers and authorities “neutralised”, or killed, the opposite, the inside minister stated of the incident that rattled a central district that’s house to ministerial buildings and close by parliament.
The suicide assault occurred hours earlier than the Turkish parliament was set to reopen after its three-month summer season recess with an tackle by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who stated the blast was “the most recent try” to inflict terror on the Turks.
“Those that threaten the peace and safety of residents haven’t achieved their objectives and by no means will,” he stated.
The PKK and ISIL (ISIS) have carried out such assaults in vacationer areas and metropolis centres of Turkey up to now.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, stated security was tightened across the parliament and inside ministry buildings after the assault.
“They [authorities] have cleared the realm … There may be injury on the safety entrance of the ministry and employees try to repair the damages. There may be additionally a Turkish flag by the gate to precise solidarity and the territorial integrity of the nation,” she stated.
The bomb on Ataturk Boulevard was the primary in Ankara since March 2016, when 37 individuals have been killed after a bomb-laden automobile exploded at a crowded central transport hub.
Police stated they carried out managed explosions for “suspicious bundle incidents” in different elements of Ankara.
The incident got here nearly a 12 months after six individuals have been killed and 81 wounded in an explosion in a busy pedestrian avenue in central Istanbul. Turkey blamed Kurdish fighters for that.
Throughout a sequence of bloody incidents in 2015 and 2016, Kurdish, ISIL and different teams both claimed or have been blamed for a number of assaults in main Turkish cities.
Turkey’s parliament is predicted to contemplate ratifying Sweden’s bid to hitch NATO within the coming weeks after Ankara raised preliminary objections and delayed the enlargement of the bloc.
Erdogan didn’t point out Sweden or NATO, however instructed members of parliament that agreeing on a brand new structure was a precedence for the brand new session. The parliament speaker stated its agenda wouldn’t give up to “terror”.
European Council President Charles Michel stated he strongly condemned the “terrorist assault”, whereas EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi stated the EU helps Turkey “in its battle towards terrorism”.
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