ANKARA: Turkey said on Monday its air force “neutralised” 26 Kurdish militant in strikes in Syria and northern Iraq in response to the killing of soldiers at the weekend, while authorities also detained dozens of pro-Kurdish opposition activists.

On Saturday, the defence ministry said 12 Turkish soldiers were killed during fighting with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, prompting Ankara to conduct a barrage of air strikes and operations in the region.

On Monday, it said initial findings showed that at least 26 militants were “neutralised” in those strikes. Ankara typically uses the term to mean killed. Defence Minister Yasar Guler also said on Sunday that 30 PKK militants had been neutralised in an area of northern Iraq where Turkey carries out cross-border operations, bringing the total number of militants killed since the weekend to 56.