UPDATES WITH 7 MORE TERRORISTS NEUTRALIZED
By Muhammed Boztepe and Yildiz Nevin Gundogmus
ANKARA (AA) – Security forces killed 35 terrorists in anti-terror operations in eastern and southern Turkey over the last three weeks, the Interior Ministry and the Turkish Armed Forces announced on Tuesday.
Gendarmerie commands in the southern Hatay and Osmaniye provinces killed 25 terrorists in the Mt. Amanos region.
Mt. Amanos is a range of mountains in Hatay that the PKK/PYD terror group has used to penetrate from Syria into Turkey.
Two of the terrorists were neutralized in Hatay’s Iskenderun district, the statement added.
Later, the Turkish Armed Forces announced on social media that 10 more terrorists were neutralized during airstrikes in eastern and southern Turkey.
The airstrikes were conducted on April 15-16 in the eastern Agri province’s Dogubeyazit district and Hatay’s Mt. Amanos region, according to the Turkish army.
Seven more PKK terrorists were also killed by Turkish gendarmerie forces in the southeastern province of Siirt, according to the provincial governor's office.
The office said in a statement that, based on a tip on terrorists in the area, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were sent to the Ayva Hill region of Mt. Yazlica along the Siirt-Sirnak border.
Seven terrorists detected by the UAVs were killed in operations backed by F-16 fighter jets and ATAK combat helicopters, said the statement.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people.
* Fecri Barlik from Siirt contributed to the story