Turkish warplanes killed more than 20 Kurdish fighters on Tuesday in strikes in Syria and Iraq, where the Kurds are key players in the battle against the ISIS group.
Turkey said it had carried out the strikes in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq against “terrorist havens” and vowed to continue action against groups it links to the outlawed Kurdistan’s Workers’ Party (PKK).
In northeastern Syria strikes targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — who are leading
the offensive against ISIS stronghold Raqa — killed at least 18 people.
In northern Iraq they killed six peshmerga fighters from the autonomous Kurdish Government, usually allied with Ankara, in an apparent accident.
The peshmerga said the strike was “unacceptable” but blamed PKK-affiliated militia who were the apparent targets.
The strikes underlined the complexities of the battlefields in Iraq and Syria, where twin US-backed offensives are seeking to dislodge ISIS jehadis from their last major urban strongholds.
They could also exacerbate tensions between Ankara and its NATO ally Washington, which sees the Kurds as one of the most effective fighting forces against IS.
Turkey’s army said it launched the strikes “in order to destroy terrorist havens targeting our country”.
“The operations will continue to be carried out
from now with the same determination until the very last terrorist is neutralised,” the army said.
The bombardment in northeastern Syria saw Turkish planes carry out “dozens of simultaneous air strikes” on YPG positions overnight, including a media centre, a monitoring group said.