"We won't stop until we completely wipe off terror from our borders. The operations will continue until the PKK terror group is removed from Qandil and if needed from Sinjar," Erdogan said, while addressing members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in parliament on Saturday.

This as Turkish military said on the same day that its warplanes had killed at least eight PKK militants in northern Iraq as well as Turkey’s restive southeastern Mardin province on Friday and Saturday, Sputnik reported.

The Turkish General Staff wrote on its official Twitter account that fighter jets had conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq's Sinat-Haftanin regions and in the Omerli district of Mardin province, which is near the Syrian and Iraqi border.

The Turkish government has said it would attack northern Iraq if the central government in Baghdad and the United Nations do not take steps to eliminate PKK militants. It also claims the Makhmur camp, which is located 100 kilometers south of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s capital Erbil and was purportedly overrun by PKK militants, must be shut down due to security threats.

The Iraqi government, however, has time and again strongly denounced any violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including those committed by Ankara, saying any foreign anti-terror operation inside the Arab country must be conducted based on Baghdad's permission.

In his Saturday speech, Erdogan also pointed to a deal reached between Turkey and the United States in June that envisages the withdrawal of Washington-backed Kurdish militants from Manbij district in northern Syria. The Turkish president said "powers which have been supporting terror groups in our region for a long time have understood Turkey's decisiveness in the war against terror, and have started to seek ways of reconciliation."

Reporter’s code: 50101