ANKARA, October 6. /TASS/. Planes of the Turkish Air Force conducted airstrikes on facilities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and affiliated organizations in Syria’s northern regions, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"In the course of an air assault operation, held at 11:00 p.m. [local time, same as Moscow time] on October 5, the Air Force struck terrorist facilities in northern Syrian regions of Tell Rifat, Jazira and Derik. A total of 30 targets were destroyed, including an oil well and a storage facility, along with shelters and caves where high-ranking members of the terrorist organization were hiding, according to available information," the ministry said.

The statement says that the operation was aimed at "preventing terror attacks from Syria’s north, targeting the people of Turkey and its security forces," by eliminating the PKK and its Syrian armed wing, the People's Protection Units also known as YPG.

The Turkish foreign ministry said "a large number of terrorists were eliminated" as a result.

Thursday’s strike is the latest in a series of Turkish air assaults on PKK facilities near Turkey’s southern borders. Since the October 1 attack on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s office in Ankara, the country has carried out three airborne operations in Northern Iraq. Around 60 facilities of the PKK, designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey, were destroyed as a result.