Turkish air strikes hit 17 Kurdish militant targets, says military

The Turkish military have ratcheted up pressure on Kurdish militants with a fresh round of air strikes in the southeast of the country as the insurgents claimed responsibility for the bombing of a police station in Istanbul.

War planes pounded 17 targets in the province of Hakkari on Monday and yesterday, the military said, part of a renewed crackdown on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy.

Turkey, a Nato member, started what it called a "synchronised war on terror" last month, attacking PKK fighters in northern Iraq and, less frequently, Islamic State militants in northern Syria.

By largely focusing on the PKK – in Iraq and at home – Ankara has raised suspicions among Kurds its real agenda is to check Kurdish territorial ambitions rather than crush the hardline Islamists.

Election setback

Critics accuse the country’s president,

Tayyip Erdogan

, of attempting to use violence to win back nationalist support after an election setback for the ruling AK Party in June.

"Our fight will continue until not one terrorist is left within our borders and until concrete is poured over [their weapons]," Mr Erdogan said at a military ceremony.

The PKK claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing of the police station in which four people died, three of them attackers. The bombing was one of a wave of attacks on Turkish security forces that have killed at least nine.

Damage vs sacrifice

In a statement online, the PKK named its three militants who died. It called for a focus on attacks that “damage the enemy” rather than just sacrificing the fighter.

The air strikes in Hakkari followed operations on Sunday in the eastern Agri province, which killed seven PKK militants, according to the local governor’s office.

In ground fighting, security sources said the PKK attacked a military station in Sirnak, a province adjacent to Hakkari, and killed one soldier in a 20-minute battle.

The military confirmed its forces had come under attack in Sirnak and had launched air strikes to take out two PKK heavy machine gun positions. One PKK militant was also killed in a clash in Bingol province. The United States and the European Union, like Turkey, classify the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

In a separate development, two Turkish prosecutors who led an investigation into alleged corruption around Mr Erdogan's inner circle fled to Armenia before arrest warrants were issued for them. Zekeriya Oz, the former chief prosecutor of Istanbul, his colleague Celal Kara and a third prosecutor face charges of attempting to overthrow the government and forming a criminal organisation, Turkish media have said. – (Reuters)