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Turkey retaliates to Ankara blast with Iraqi airstrikes

Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq - as an explosion hit a mil...
Newstalk
Newstalk

09.25 18 Feb 2016


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Turkey retaliates to Ankara bl...

Turkey retaliates to Ankara blast with Iraqi airstrikes

Newstalk
Newstalk

09.25 18 Feb 2016


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Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq - as an explosion hit a military convoy in southeast Turkey.

Several people were said to have been wounded in Thursday's attack near Diyarbakir - a day after a car bomb was detonated near a military headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara, killing 28 people and injuring dozens of others.

It came as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the suicide bombing was carried out by a Syrian national - who had registered as a refugee in the country - in conjunction with Turkey's Kurdish rebels.

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He also confirmed 60 to 70 militants, including senior leaders, had been killed in the overnight air raids targeting rebel positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

In addition, he said nine people had been arrested in connection with Wednesday's deadly attack.

"The attack was carried out by the PKK together with a person who sneaked into Turkey from Syria," he said.

In an apparent appeal to the United States, Mr Davutoglu called on allies to withdraw their support for Syrian Kurdish militias.

Turkey regards the Syrian Democratic Union Party, and its military wing, the People's Protection Units as terrorists because of their affiliation to Turkey's outlawed Kurdish rebel group.

However, the Kurdish militia, has been fighting the Islamic State terror group, alongside the US.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the Ankara bombing which targeted several buses carrying military personnel.


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