Turkey carried out airstrikes against the Kurdish group, which is suspected of being behind the attack near its Parliament building, in northern Iraq on Sunday, Turkey’s defence ministry has said.
In the attack by Turkey, around 20 targets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were “destroyed”, including caves, shelters and depots. The ministry added that the attack left a number of PKK operatives “neutralised”.
The attack by Turkey followed a suicide bombing attack near its parliament building in Ankara. Besides the suicide bomber, another assailant was killed in a shootout with police. This was the first terrorist attack in Turkey’s capital in years, as per authorities.
The PKK claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. Turkey also identified one of the assailants as a member of the PKK. The group maintains a base in northern Iraq.
Last year, a bomb blast in Istanbul left six people dead, including two children. More than 80 others were wounded. Turkey blamed the attack on the PKK and the Kurdish militia group, YPG.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK. The YPG is listed as a terror group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
Latest attack on Turkey
The attack on Turkey which occurred on Sunday saw the two assailants arrive at the scene inside a light commercial vehicle. CCTV footage obtained by Reuters showed a vehicle pulling up to the Interior Ministry’s main gate and one of its occupants quickly walking toward the building before being engulfed in an explosion, while the other remains on the street.
The attack happened hours before Turkey’s Parliament reopened after its three-month summer recess with an address by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a speech at the opening of a new parliamentary session hours later, President Tayyip Erdogan called the morning attack “the latest attempt” to inflict terror on Turks.
“Those who threaten the peace and security of citizens have not achieved their goals and never will,” he said.
(With Agency inputs)