The Turkish Ministry of Defence will continue its efforts to destroy elements of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in neighbouring Iraq, it said yesterday.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

"Our ground forces' fire support mechanisms and our air force fighters are bombing effectively the targets of the PKK designated terrorist group," the ministry said in a statement.

Ankara launched two operations to rid northern Iraq of what it says are elements of the terrorist group the PKK, naming the military manoeuvers operations 'Claw-Lightning' and 'Claw-Thunderbolt'.

"There's no room for the separatist terror group in the future of Turkey, Iraq or Syria," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in reference to the Kurdish fighters on Saturday, a day after the operations were launched.