October 24, 2016•Update: October 24, 2016
By Mehmet Tosun
ANKARA
In the two months since armed aerial drones were introduced to Turkey’s fight against the terrorist organization PKK they have killed 72 terrorists in one province, Defense Minister Fikri Isik said Monday.
In a Twitter post, the minister revealed the toll since Bayraktar TB2 armed unmanned aerial vehciles were introduced in Hakkari, a mountainous province that borders Iraq and Iran.
Produced by Turkish firm Baykar Makina, the drone has a range of more than 150 kilometers (90 miles) and can fly at a maximum altitude of 6,800 meters (22,500 feet). It is armed with MAM-L laser-guided missiles made by Roketsan, another Turkish company.
The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year. Since then, PKK terrorist attacks martyred more than 700 security personnel and also claimed the lives of many civilians, including women and children, while nearly 8,000 PKK terrorists were killed in army operations.
