Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has suggested the recent string of attacks by Daesh and the PKK terrorist organizations are linked, saying it was "as if someone was pushing the pawns forward one by one".
Ankara's simultaneous airstrikes targeting the two groups were aimed at targeting the "kings and queens behind the pawns", Davutoglu told a meeting of Justice and Development (AK) Party provincial heads on Thursday.
His remarks come as Turkish security forces pursue a nationwide counterterrorism operation on groups such as Daesh, the PKK and the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, which have seen over 1,300 suspects detained in 39 provinces since July 24 after last week's Daesh bombing in Suruc and later wave of deadly attacks on security forces by the PKK.
Turkey recently launched airstrikes against Daesh and the PKK positions in Syria and Iraq. On Friday night and in the early hours of Saturday, Turkish jets bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq for the first time in the last two-and-a-half years.