Turkey launches anti-terror ops in Qandil and Sinjar, Erdoğan says

Turkey has launched anti-terror operations in both Qandil and Sinjar regions in northern Iraq, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

Addressing locals in central Nigde province, Erdogan said: “We’ve started anti-terror operations in Qandil and Sinjar. We’ve destroyed 14 important targets with our 20 aircraft.”

“They [the warplanes] shot and returned but it has not finished yet. It will continue,” he added.

Referring to Qandil region, he said: “Our target is to drain the biggest swamp.”

In recent days Turkish officials had suggested that the Mt. Qandil region in northern Iraq near the Iranian border -- where the terrorist group has its headquarters -- may be the target of a future operation.

Airstrikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq, where the terror group has its main base in the Mt. Qandil region, near the Iranian border, have been carried out regularly since July 2015, when the terrorist PKK resumed its armed campaign.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the U.S. and EU. In its terror campaign against Turkey, which has lasted for more than three decades, over 40,000 people have been killed, including women and children.