By Merve Yildizalp

ANKARA

Four PKK terrorists were “neutralized” on Sunday in airstrikes carried out by Turkish fighter jets in northern Iraq, the Turkish military said.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

The terrorists who were plotting attacks on Turkish bases were neutralized in Iraq’s Hakurk region, the military said in a statement.

Shelters and arms depot belonging to the terrorists were also destroyed, it added.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children, in its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey.