ISTANBUL: Turkey has killed 260 Kurdish militants in a week-long air offensive on targets in northern Iraq, official media claimed on Saturday, as regional Iraqi authorities said it was time the rebels pulled out with concerns growing over civilian casualties.

Ankara has launched a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against the self-styled Islamic State in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq after a wave of attacks inside Turkey.

But so far the bombardments have focused far more on the Kurdish rebels and a report by the official Anatolia news agency of 260 alleged PKK militants killed was the first concrete indication of the scale of the casualties.

Turkish F-16 jets carried out more air strikes on Saturday morning, NTV television said.

On Friday, 28 Turkish F-16s destroyed 65 targets of the PKK including shelters and arms depots, following the heaviest air strikes the day before when 80 Turkish aircraft hit 100 PKK targets, Anatolia said.

“For the peace and security of our people, the fight against terror organisations will continue without interruption,” the office of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a statement.

The PKK’s insurgency for greater rights and powers for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, begun more than 30 years ago, has left tens of thousands dead. A ceasefire declared in 2013 has been shattered by the current violence.

Turkey’s Kurdish militants have sought cover in neighbouring northern Iraq where the presence of the PKK has long been tolerated in Iraqi Kurdish-ruled region. More fighters also crossed into the area from Turkey as part of the 2013 ceasefire.

Yet the PKK’s relations with the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish authorities in Arbil have been beset by tensions, while Iraqi Kurds have expanded economic cooperation and relations with Turkey.

The office of the region’s president Massud Barzani said in a statement on Saturday that the PKK rebels should move out of the region to prevent civilian casualties.

“The PKK must keep the battlefield away from the Kurdistan region in order for civilians not to become victims of this war,” it said.

The Kurdistan Regional government issued a slightly softer statement urging the PKK to keep its “forces... away from populated areas”. Iraqi Kurdish officials said six people had been killed in a pre-dawn strike by Turkish war planes on the village of Zarkel and there have been reports of civilian casualties.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play