ISTANBUL, Jan 13, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Turkey conducted overnight air strikes on

nearly 30 "terrorist targets" in northern Iraq and Syria after nine of its
soldiers were killed in a military base in Iraq, the defence ministry said
Saturday.

"Air operations were carried out on terrorist targets in the regions of
Metina, Hakurk, Gara and Qandil," the ministry said in a statement.

The Turkish soldiers were killed during clashes that followed an attempted
intrusion at the base near the northern Iraqi city of Metina, the ministry
said, revising upward a previous toll of five.

The ministry said the strikes had targeted 29 locations including "caves,
bunkers, shelters and oil installations" belonging to the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) and the YPG (People's Protection Units), a Syrian Kurdish militia
which is a central element of US-allied forces in a coalition against Islamic
State.

Ankara has operated several dozen military posts in the area for the past 25
years in its decades-old war against the PKK, a group blacklisted by Turkey
and many of its Western allies as a terrorist organisation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to hold an emergency security
meeting Saturday in Istanbul to discuss the uptick in attacks on troops in
the region.

Meanwhile, 113 people were arrested for suspected links with the PKK in
nationwide raids on Saturday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X,
formerly Twitter.