Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Report: Turkish warplanes bomb PKK targets in northern Iraq | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish warplanes on Thursday bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq, private news channel NTV reported.

The planes flew reconnaissance flights over the border area before bombing targets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the station said, citing Iraqi Kurdish officials.

There were no reports of injuries to civilians, it said. Turkey last month launched a major ground operation into northern Iraq to hit Kurdish guerrilla camps there. The eight-day incursion ended on Feb. 29.

There was no immediate confirmation of the new attack from the Turkish military Thursday. But military chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit has said Turkey will continue its attacks against rebels in northern Iraq.

The military has said it inflicted heavy losses on a large group of rebels in Iraq’s Zap region, close to the Turkish border, during the ground incursion. The rebels have disputed that claim.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who visited Ankara earlier this month, said the rebels would not be tolerated inside Iraq’s borders and that Baghdad was pressuring them to lay down their arms.

The PKK has said it wants political and cultural autonomy for the predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey. The conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people since it began in 1984.