Azernews.Az

ANKARA – Turkish Air Forces' planes conducted a successful air offense on 60 targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq Wednesday night, Turkey's General Staff said Thursday in a statement posted on its website, Xinhua reported.

The PKK targets included those in the Qandil Mountain, Kharkurk, Avashin-Bashyan, Zap and Metina in northern Iraq, said the General Staff, adding that "prior to the air offense, 168 targets in the Zap, Avashin-Bashyan and Kharkurk regions were shelled by heavy artillery."

"Turkish warplanes returned to their base safely after completing the strike," it said.

The General Staff said the operation targeted only the terrorist organization, and necessary attention was paid to avoid any harm to civilians in the region.

"Turkish military's similar operations both in Turkey and abroad will continue till northern Iraq turns into a safe place and the terrorist organization which uses the region as its base of attacks against Turkey is eradicated," it added.

Seven Turkish soldiers and one security guard were killed early Wednesday morning in Turkey's southeastern district of Hakkari in the latest attack carried out by the PKK.

The PKK has intensified its attacks on Turkish troops recently and Turkish officials have vowed to retaliate with absolute determination.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK over the past over two decades.