The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that 1,270 Kurdistan Workers' Party militants were killed in military operations carried out by the Turkish army against the party's militants in northern Iraq and Syria during the current year. Turkish Defense Spokesman Zeki Akturk said in a media briefing on Thursday: The Turkish army's operations in northern Iraq and Syria during the current year, which were focused on strikes carried out by Turkish fighter aircraft, resulted in the killing of 1,270 saboteurs affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party. Akturk pointed out that the number of militants killed in the Turkish army's operations against the PKK during the last two weeks in northern Iraq and Syria amounted to 89 of the party's militants. He confirmed that 486 people, including 16 militants, were arrested while trying to infiltrate the country illegally during the last two weeks, bringing the number of those arrested since the beginning of this year to 5,215 people. He added that the Kurdistan Workers ' Party (PKK) takes the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq as its stronghold, and is active in many cities, regions and valleys, from which it launches attacks into the Turkish interior, and that the Turkish army is working hard to dry up the sources of terrorism. Source: National Iraqi News Agency