Forum: F-16 News

Turkish army says destroyed 60 PKK targets in raid

Reuters - Friday, January 18 03:58 pmANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes destroyed some 60 Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq during an operation this week, Turkey's General Staff said on Friday.

Tuesday's strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in the mountainous region near Turkey's border followed a series of cross-border attacks by aircraft in December aimed at crushing the Turkish rebel group.

There have so far been no reports of casualties or damage caused by the latest raid on targets in the regions of Zap-Sivi, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk.

"During the operation ... some 60 targets, confirmed as being used solely by the terror organisation, came under fire from our warplanes," the General Staff said in a statement.

It said targets hit included command posts, shelters and training and logistics sites used by the guerrillas.

The General Staff said it was trying to assess the number of PKK casualties and would continue its operations.

Ankara says 3,000 PKK rebels are based in the northern Iraq mountains, from where they launch raids on Turkey. Some 100,000 Turkish troops are massed along the border with Iraq but Ankara is not expected to launch a major cross-border land incursion.

In a separate statement on Friday, the General Staff said 21 PKK rebels had surrendered to Turkish forces in the past month.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union class the PKK as a terrorist group. Ankara blames the group for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the PKK began its armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Turkish forces shelled two areas in Dahuk on January 11, without causing significant damage or injury.

That shelling followed a January 3 bomb attack in the southeast Turkish city of Diyarbakir blamed on the PKK. The death toll in that bombing rose to seven on Friday after one of the casualties died in hospital from his injuries.

(Reporting by Daren Butler, editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080115/ ... a8d4f.html

Did the operation ended or still going on?. Probably those bomb attacks recently will make TuAF launch more raids soon.

Thanks for all of your updates, guys! Today, I read the following online news article:



Question: Is there anybody in our forums who can/will document all of these latest F-16-related air strikes against PKK locations? At least in my eyes that should be ripe for a new chapter of our planned section "F-16 Combat History"!

It is stated that fighters used in the operations are F-16s and F-4E 2020s from 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th (KC-135R refuel tankers) Air Force bases.

Some equipped with LANTIRN pods (AN/AAQ-13 and -14) some with night vision goggles (AN/AVS-9) only. Equipment used are Mk-82, Mk-84, AGM-65G Maverick, GBU-10 and GBU-12 LGBs.

With these operations, TuAF demonstrates that it is one of the Air Forces, namely, the US, UK, Israel, France, the Netherlands and Canada, which are capable of undertaking night-time operations.

Turkish fighter jets hit 70 targets in northern Iraq

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

ANKARA — Turkey launched its largest air offensive this year in its campaign in Iraq.

Turkish F-16 multi-role fighters struck 70 targets of the Kurdish Workers Party in northern Iraq, the military said on Monday. The Turkish Air Force was said to have employed at least five F-16s in the fifth such strike on PKK bases since December 2007.

"Some 70 targets came under fire and our planes, which completed their duties successfully, returned to their bases safely at 3:15 p.m. [1315 GMT]," the military said in statement.

Officials said this marked the largest Turkish air strike since December 2007. On Dec. 16, 200 suspected PKK targets were attacked by the Turkish Air Force.

Iraq has acknowledged the latest Turkish strike, said to have been coordinated with the United States. An Iraqi official at the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government said the Turkish air attack — in the Avasyn and Basyan region — lasted one hour and no civilians were killed. The PKK was said to maintain a base at Khnera just inside Iraq.

The air strike was said to have capped a ground offensive against the PKK in southeastern Turkey. On Feb. 3, the military said 10 PKK fighters were killed in a three-day ground and air operation along the Iraqi border.

Source: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribun ... _02_05.asp

Turkish jets bomb rebel territory in northern Iraq

Published: February 04, 2008

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) Turkish warplanes on Monday bombarded three Kurdish settlements in a mountainous area of northern Iraq known as a refuge for rebel Kurds, rebel and Iraqi military officials said.

"Turkish planes bombed three villages in northern Kurdistan in the night. We have no reports of victims," said Major General Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for the peshmerga, the armed force of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

A spokesman for the Kurdish rebels also confirmed the attack.

"Turkish planes bombed the uninhabited hamlets of Khorakouk, Khnira and Loulan in the Qandil Mountains near the Turkish border between 3 am and 6 am today (between 2400 GMT Sunday and 0300 GMT Monday)," said Ahmed Dinis of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

No-one was hurt, he added. Dinis would not say whether any guerrillas were in the area when the jets struck.

The Qandil Mountains lie where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey meet and are known as a stronghold of the PKK, which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey has carried out several air strikes in northern Iraq since December, some using intelligence supplied by the US forces in the country, and has vowed to defeat what it says are 4,000 rebels using Qandil as a rearbase.

The PKK, which is regarded as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has waged a bloody campaign against the Turkish military since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Source: http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2008/02 ... _iraq/afp/