ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has carried out a new round of airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry said Monday.

Warplanes struck suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the regions of Hakurk, Metina and Gara in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the statement.

The airstrikes reportedly killed 16 militants, including some commanders, the ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the PKK, a banned separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.

The ministry said it was determined to “rescue Turkey from this problem.”

The latest airstrikes came weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid his first visit to Iraq in 12 years, seeking greater cooperation from Baghdad in the fight against the militants. Erdogan had previously announced a major operation against the PKK for this summer with the aim of “permanently” eradicating the threat it poses.