Türkiye carried out a new round of airstrikes targeting PKK terrorists in neighboring Iraq on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said, hours after a PKK attack killed a Turkish soldier and injured four others in the region.

Türkiye often launches strikes against the PKK and its Syrian wing YPG in Syria and Iraq.

On Tuesday, Turkish warplanes struck PKK positions in the Metina, Zap, Hakurk, Gara and Qandil regions in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to a ministry statement. The jets reportedly destroyed 27 PKK targets, including caves, bunkers and shelters.

"We have not left the blood of any of our martyrs on the ground," the ministry said, suggesting that the airstrikes were in retaliation to the PKK attack on a Turkish base earlier on Tuesday that killed the Turkish soldier and wounded four others, where Türkiye is conducting Operation Claw-Lock in the region.

Mounting attacks

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye. Tuesday's attack is the third in the last four months by PKK terrorists, which killed a total of 21 soldiers in late December and early January in the same region.

Türkiye has since ramped up its airstrikes in Iraq and northern Syria against the terrorist group's members holed up with its neighbors close to its border and warned of a new incursion into the region.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, Britain and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

The conflict was long fought mainly in rural areas of southeastern Türkiye but is now more focused on the mountains of northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where PKK militants have their headquarters in Qandil. Türkiye has since 2019 conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, dubbed "Claw," the latest of which is the ongoing "Claw-Lock" launched in April 2022.

It was preceded by Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle, launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding out in areas close to the Turkish border.

Iraq has said the operations violate its sovereignty, but Ankara says it is protecting its borders. The intention is to establish a 30-40 kilometer (18-25 mile) security corridor to secure its southern borders completely.

Iraqi cooperation

Last week, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held high-level meetings with his counterpart Fuad Hussein and other Iraqi officials to discuss the PKK's presence in Iraq and measures to be taken against the organization.

A joint statement issued by the two countries said both sides had "stressed that the PKK organization represents a security threat to both Türkiye and Iraq" and that its presence in Iraq "represents a violation of the Iraqi Constitution."

The PKK is not designated a terrorist organization in Iraq but is banned from launching operations against Türkiye from Iraqi territory. It nevertheless has a foothold in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous north controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), where the central Iraqi government has little influence.

Ankara says it is alarmed about the KRG's logistical or political support to the PKK, which seeks to legitimize its presence through political parties and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in northern Iraq.

In rural Sulaymaniyah, it often intimidates the local population by setting up "checkpoints" and through extortions and kidnappings. Collaboration between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the PKK in semi-autonomous northern Iraq risks spillover of the terrorist group's violent campaigns to the wider region.

The PUK, based in Sulaymaniyah, stands accused of giving more freedom of movement both in the city and rural parts of Sulaymaniyah to the PKK. Ankara has since closed off its airspace to flights to the city and halted its own flights. It repeatedly warned of "further measures" if the Sulaymaniyah administration continues to tolerate terrorists.

Syrian wing

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is expected to visit Iraq next month, has said that his country is determined to end the PKK's presence in Iraq this summer, suggesting a possible large-scale military offensive into the region.

He also promised to "complete unfinished business in Syria," where Ankara is combatting the YPG terrorists, which have occupied much of northeastern Syria, particularly the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province since 2015 and has grown stronger thanks to material support from the U.S.

Türkiye launched a trio of counterterrorism operations in 2016, 2018 and 2019, much to Washington's chagrin, but the latter's support to the YPG also stokes tensions between the NATO allies. Ankara often warns the U.S. against aiding terror elements that threaten its national security, something Washington continues to do despite promising to remove the group from the Turkish border area.

Erdoğan warned earlier this month that "all in the region must respect this security strategy of ours. Otherwise, they will be the reason for potential tensions."