• A week after an Istanbul explosion that it attributes to Kurdish militants, Turkey has started attacking Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria with airstrikes.
• The proscribed Kurdish PKK organisation denies responsibility for the bombing in Istanbul.
• Which targets were targeted in Iraq are unclear.

According to the defence ministry, the Operation Claw-Sword raids targeted Kurdish sites that were being utilised to wage assaults against Turkey.

Two communities with large populations of internally displaced people were targeted, according to a Syrian-Kurdish spokesperson.

The proscribed Kurdish PKK organisation denies responsibility for the bombing in Istanbul.

The Turkish defence ministry tweeted that the “hour of reckoning” had arrived as the airstrikes started, along with a photo of a fighter jet taking off and video of an explosion.

Hulusi Akar, Turkey’s defence minister, declared that “terrorists’ shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, and warehouses were successfully destroyed.”

Two heavily inhabited towns as well as the city of Kobane, according to Kurdish-led troops in Syria, were attacked. There are reportedly several casualties, but this is unconfirmed.

Which targets were targeted in Iraq are unclear.

The operations take place a week after an explosion that left six people dead and more than 80 injured on one of Istanbul’s busiest avenues.

The bombing was attributed by Turkish officials to the PKK, a Kurdish militant group that Turkey, the EU, and the US consider to be a terrorist organisation.

The PKK, however, denied involvement and stated that it would not “directly target civilians.”

Numerous people have been detained by the authorities in connection with the incident, including a Syrian lady who is accused of planting the device.

The Turkish justice minister claimed before the arrest that a bag had exploded close to a bench after a woman had sat there for forty minutes.

According to the AFP news agency, five persons have also been charged in Bulgaria with participating in the attack.

Kurdish insurgents have been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey for decades.

In an effort to stop attacks on Turkish territory, Turkey has recently carried out a number of cross-border operations against Kurdish forces headquartered in northern Iraq and Syria.

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