Turkey hits PKK targets in northern Iraq, kills seven militants

HAKKARİ – Doğan News Agency

Seven outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were killed in air operations in northern Iraq’s Zap region on July 30 and 31, the Turkish General Staff has said in a statement. 

Airstrikes on PKK targets in the Zap region on July 30 killed three PKK militants and destroyed two ammunition depots and two logistics bases, it added.

Seventeen militants were killed across Turkey throughout last week, the Interior Ministry said in a separate statement.      
  
In addition, 11 people surrendered and seven were captured since July 24, but the ministry’s statement did not specify which groups they belonged to.

During the last week, there were 1,157 counter-terrorism operations that led to the arrests of 243 suspects for aiding the PKK, 57 on suspicion of links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), 593 suspected of ties to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), and 28 suspects believed to be tied to left-wing groups.      

“In the operations conducted in Bingöl, Van, Şırnak, Hatay, and Diyarbakır, 26 shelters, lodgings, and caves used by the terror organization members were destroyed, as well as 97 hand-made explosives and mines. Material used in the making of 600 kilograms of explosives, 165 hand grenades, and 44 weapons, including 38 heavy and long-barreled weapons, were also seized by the security forces,” the statement said.

Additionally, anti-drug teams across Turkey conducted 2,108 operations, the statement also said, leading to the seizure of more than 3,800 kilograms of cannabis, 755 kg of heroin, 0.8 kg of cocaine, 2.7 kg of methamphetamine, more than 1.8 drug pills, more than 1.8 million cannabis plants, 621,963 packages of smuggled cigarette, and 82.9 tons of fuel oil.

Nearly 3,000 suspects were detained in the narcotics raids.

Moreover, in operations conducted against street vendors in some 39 provinces, some 162 people were detained. 

Within the context of struggle against “illegal migration,” security officials caught some 2,797 people, including 397 on the seas, while 80 were detained on allegations of “organizing such illegal activities.” 

The Interior Ministry’s report also revealed statistics on “cybercrimes” conducted in the week of July 24-31, including the security forces’ efforts to crack down on social media accounts. 

“Work was undertaken on 2,619 social media accounts that engaged in propaganda for terror organizations, particularly the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)/Parallel State Structure (PDY), the PKK/Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), that praised these organizations, that openly made statements of adherence to these terror organizations, that led people to grudges, animosity and hatred, that insulted statesmen, that targeted the state’s indivisible integrity and society’s security, and that included hate speech,” its statement said.

Of the 2,619 social media accounts analyzed, some 1,403 people were determined to have committed a crime, prompting police to detain 168 people.