A U.S. Predator drone had reportedly fired the first bomb in an airstrike that killed 35 Kurdish civilians in southeastern Turkey last month.
In its main headline on Sunday, Turkish Aydinlik newspaper quoted “credible sources” as saying that the US drone had launched the airstrike by targeting the victims.
The report added that Turkey’s F-16 fighter jets had arrived at the scene between 16 to 18 minutes later.
In December, Turkey said that its warplanes mistakenly targeted Kurdish smugglers, thought to be members of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group, in the village of Ortasu in the southeastern province of Sirnak close to the border with Iraq.
According to the report, the U.S. drones that have been stationed in Incirlik Airbase in southern Turkey are completely directed by US personnel in Nevada and Turkish Armed Forces have no control over them.
The U.S. delivered four Predator drones to Turkey last year, as part of Washington’s gesture of support to the Turkish fight against PKK terrorists.
More than 45,000 people have lost their lives since the PKK launched an armed campaign against Ankara in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast in 1984.
(Source: Press TV)