184 militants killed as Turkey strikes Kurdish rebels

Updated : Nov 24, 2022 08:03
|
AP

184 Kurdish militants have been "neutralised" so far by the air strikes conducted by Turkey in Northern Syria and Northern Iraq, according to the Turkish Defence Minister, during a visit to the land forces command of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Hulusi Akar, accompanied by the commanders of navy, air force, land forces and Chief of the General Staff Yasar Guler, said that a total of 80 targets were hit during the first hours of the operation and eight more "probable" targets were also hit in the morning.

"This struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised," added Akar.

Suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets across the border into Turkey on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, Turkish officials said. The attack followed deadly airstrikes by Turkey on suspected militant targets in Syria and Iraq.

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Akar reiterated his commitment in "destroying terrorism at its source."

"Now is payback time. The villainy they committed in Istanbul, in Beyoglu. We will ask them one by one to account for the villainy they have committed today and all the villainy they have committed before. They will pay for it," Akar said.

One of the rockets landed near a school in the town of Karkamis in Gaziantep, and the explosion smashed the window of a teachers' room, killing a 22-year-old teacher, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said. A five-year-old boy was killed when a house in Karkamis was also hit in the attack.

A pregnant woman who was reported to be dead was in fact in serious condition in the hospital, the minister said, correcting an earlier death toll to two.

All schools in the area have been closed for a week as a precaution, the minister said.

A soldier and seven Turkish police officers were wounded overnight in separate shelling by suspected Kurdish militants that targeted the Oncupinar border area in nearby Kilis, Soylu said.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled that Turkey was also contemplating a ground incursion against the militant groups, saying the operation would not be "limited to an air campaign." Turkey's defence ministry and military will talk about the number of ground troops that would be required, he added.

Turkey has launched three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016 and already controls some Syrian territory in the north.

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