Turkey's Ministry of National Defense reported an air operation in northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), recognized as a terrorist organization in the country, destroyed 13 targets and eliminated a large number of militants.

"During air operations in northern Iraq, 13 targets belonging to the PKK terrorist organization were destroyed," the Turkish military ministry said in a statement.

The armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party began in Turkey in 1984 and resumed in 2015. There are PKK bases in northern Iraq, against which the Turkish Armed Forces conduct air and ground operations. The presence of the Turkish military in the Zlikan camp northeast of Mosul has long been a point of contention between Baghdad and Ankara, which justifies the presence by the need to fight the PKK, which is banned in Turkey.