The General Staff has posted an announcement on its official website in which it states that new air operations took place on Saturday, 22 December:
"Some targets in Northern Iraq identified as belonging to the PKK/Kongra-Gel terrorist organisation were hit by planes of the Turkish Air Force between 2.25 pm and 3 pm."
"After completing their duty successfully, the planes returned safely to their bases. In addition, the same targets were targeted by ground fire from support appliances based in the area near the borders between 4.55 pm and 5.10 pm."
No wounded or dead reported
The Firat News Agency claimed that the bombing began at 2.30 pm and lasted until 5 pm. F 16 planes are said to have targeted the Zap and Cemco areas, as well as other terrain: "It is not known yet whether civilian areas have been damaged by the bombing."
The Reuters News Agency reported the bombings and quoted Peshmerge spokesperson Cabar Yaver as saying, "Because people were scared of attacks and had left the area, there are no dead or wounded."
"Hundreds of terrorists neutralised"
In its statement, the General Staff further praised the success of the first air operations on 16 December, saying that "hundreds of terrorists have been neutralised." The army has promised to publish visual material of the operations within the next week.
"Although the [first operation] was found successful and positive by the public, there have been belittling interpretations by some people with ulterior motives. The Turkish Armed Forces consider this attempt to negatively influence the national struggle against terrorism with sadness."
Furthermore, the General Staff did not rule out the possibility of more operations in order to show "the PKK terrorist organisation that the north of Iraq is no longer a safe area." (NZ/TK/AG)
