At least 45 PKK militants killed in Turkish airstrikes: military

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 45 Kurdish rebels were killed in Turkish air strikes against suspected militant targets in northern Iraq following the suicide car bombing in Ankara, the military said Tuesday, March 15, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, a police officer and three Kurdish militants were killed in fighting in a neighborhood in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.

Turkish F-16 and F4 jets struck Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, positions across the border in Iraq on Monday, a day after the attack which killed 37 people and wounded dozens of others. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Ankara attack, which authorities say was carried out by a female bomber and a possible male accomplice. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said there were "almost certain" indications that the attack was the work of the PKK.

The attack escalated tensions with the Kurds and further complicated Turkey's place in the region as it battles a host of enemies across its borders including the Syrian government, Kurdish rebels in both Iraq and Syria, and the Islamic State group. Turkey also has been forced to absorb 2.7 million refugees from the conflict.

Authorities on Tuesday declared a curfew in Diyarbakir's low-income Baglar neighborhood early after clashes erupted overnight between Kurdish militants and the security forces. A police officer and three militants were killed in the clashes which also injured 10 other policemen, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Many residents were seen fleeing the neighborhood.

Turkey this week also declared 24-hour curfews and launched large-scale operations against Kurdish militants in the towns of Nusaybin and Yuksekova and the city of Sirnak, in the mostly Kurdish southeast region.

Police meanwhile pressed ahead with a security sweep across Turkey, detaining 55 people suspected of being members of a group that is considered the youth wing of the PKK in six provinces, Anadolu reported.