One day after Turkey’s prime minister castigated Israel for striking terrorists in Gaza, Ankara strikes at terrorists in Iraq.

Turkish warplanes launched a series of air strikes on northern Iraq late on Tuesday

Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - Photo by Reuters

The region is home to several bases used by Kurdish separatists from the PKK that Ankara regards as terrorists – and frequently targets with its military.

“After 10:00 last night, the Turkish warplanes hit some areas near the border in three locations,” Colonel Hussein Tamr told the media.

“It lasted more than an hour. We went there after the attacks finished. We found no casualties and no material damage because the attacks took place on the outskirts of these villages,” he added.

However, on 29 December 2011, Turkish airstrikes in Kurdistan killed 23 cigarette smugglers Ankara had mistaken for separatist fighters.

Tuesday’s strikes came one day after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan castigated Israel for the “massacre” caused by IAF airstrikes targeting terrorists in Gaza.

During four days of intense fighting, Gaza terrorists fired over 200 rockets at Israel’s southern towns, while Israeli strikes targeting terrorists launching rockets killed 27, of whom 25 were terrorists.

Unlike Turkey, Israel was responding to a clear and immediate threat to its civilian population by terrorists actively engaged in hostilities.

IDF commanders say Gaza’s terror factions, who were launching their rockets from densely populated areas, were using civilians as “human shields.”

Observers say the Turkish strikes, which appear to have served no military purpose, were likely staged as a propaganda ploy to serve Erdogan’s now-customary bellicose rhetoric towards the Jewish state.

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By Gavriel Queenann