Turkish jets hit PKK targets after deadly terror attack

At least 16 Turkish soldiers killed in Kurdish rebel strike on army convoy near border with Iran

Turkish jets bombed targets identified with the Kurdistan Workers Party overnight, in retaliation for a PKK attack in which as many as 16 Turkish soldiers were killed.

According to Reuters, the PKK said it had killed 15 members of the armed forces in an attack late Sunday on a convoy in the Hakkari province, near the Iraqi border. The news agency quoted a security source as saying 16 soldiers had been killed. The number would constitute the highest military death toll in a single attack on Turkish soldiers in years.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started a peace process with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2012. The surge in violence this week threatens to bring this process to collapse.

Erdogan said in a television interview Sunday that two armored military vehicles were targeted by the PKK near the village of Daglica, in the Hakkari province. He said an official statement would be made but indicated that several soldiers were killed in the attack.

“It was an attack on armored vehicles with land mines,” Erdogan said. “The information from our Chief of General Staff is very saddening.”

He said Turkey’s security forces would respond in a “different and determined” manner.

Firat news, an agency close to the rebels, quoted a rebel statement as saying 15 soldiers were killed in a “sabotage action” against a convoy of military vehicles. The claim couldn’t be immediately verified.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cut short a visit to the city of Konya, where he had watched an international soccer match, to convene a security meeting. No statement was issued at the end of the meeting.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the military retaliated to the attack by launching an air operation, with F-4 and F-16 jets striking a dozen suspected PKK targets in the region.

The renewed fighting between the PKK and the security forces has killed about 200 people since July, including around 70 soldiers and police officers. The fighting has derailed a 2 1/2-year-old peace process with the Kurds.