Turkey Destroys Hideouts of PKK Militants in Syria, Iraq

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Sunday that air strikes in northern Syria and Iraq destroyed militant bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated terrorist by Ankara.

"Terrorist hideouts, bunkers, caves, tunnels and warehouses were successfully destroyed. The so-called headquarters of the terrorist organization was also hit with high precision," Akar said in a televised speech.

Earlier in the day, the defense ministry said that an air operation against the PKK and its military wing YPG, also labeled as a terrorist organization in Turkey, was underway in northern Syria and northern Iraq.

Turkey has always held accountable those who threaten its security, Akar said, pledging that Ankara would continue to do this.

Farhad Shami, the head of the media center of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said on Twitter late on Saturday night that Turkish aircraft were attacking the city of Kobani in northern Syria, which is controlled by the SDF.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had said that there were suspicions that orders for the terrorist attack that occurred in the center of Istanbul came from the Syrian border city of Kobani.

Last Sunday, an explosion occurred on the Istiklal pedestrian tourist street in Istanbul, as a result of which six people were killed and 81 were injured. The detained suspect confessed to having links to the PKK. The PKK said that it was not involved in the explosion.