Türkiye launches air strikes, destroys PKK targets in northern Iraq

Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq in accordance with the UN's right to self-defence, the Turkish Defence Ministry has announced.

Late Sunday's anti-terror operation came after two terrorists attacked the Turkish Interior Ministry in the nation's capital, Ankara, just hours before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speech in parliament.

"Many terrorists were neutralised by using the maximum amount of domestic and national ammunition in the operations carried out," Defence Ministry said in a statement.

During the operation, about 20 PKK positions including caves, shelters and depots in Metina, Hakurk, Kandil and Gara regions in northern Iraq were targeted, according to statement.

The aerial campaign was conducted to "eliminate terrorist attacks against our people and security forces from northern Iraq by neutralising PKK/KCK and other terrorist elements and to ensure our border security," the ministry said.

Terror attack

Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance to the Interior Ministry's General Security Department, injuring two police officers.

A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police, the interior minister said.

The injured police officers are still being treated, and their injuries are not life-threatening, according to the Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the terrorist attack.

Turkish authorities have identified the first terrorist as a PKK member, and the identification of the second is still underway.