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Latest update: 20/08/2011
- Iraq - Kurds - PKK - Turkey
Turkey strikes Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq
Turkish warplanes attacked Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq for a third night, the military said on Saturday. The cross-border raids are the latest escalation in a 27-year-old conflict caused by failed efforts to create a negotiated settlement.
By News Wires (text)
REUTERS - Turkish warplanes and heavy artillery struck Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq in a third consecutive night of raids, military headquarters said on Saturday.
The Turkish raids, the first against rebels holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq in more than a year, mark a stark escalation of the 27-year-old conflict after the collapse of efforts towards a negotiated settlement.
In a statement on its website, Turkey’s General Staff said fighter planes had hit 20 rebel targets in Qandil mountain, Sinath-Haftanin, Hakurk and Gara in northern Iraq, adding the planes had all returned to their bases.
“In coordination with the air operation, intense artillery fire was directed at 85 targets in Zap, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk,” it said in the statement.
The General Staff said reconnaissance flights were continuing in the area to assess the damage inflicted during the operations and to determine whether there were any casualties.
Late on Friday, a Reuters witness said at least 10 war planes had taken off from an air base in southeastern Turkey.
The strikes follow a surge in attacks by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas against the Turkish military and an ambush on Wednesday that killed nine servicemen.
Some 40 Turkish security personnel have been killed in clashes in the last month and further air action was likely for as long as fighting on the ground continues.
It was not clear whether the air assaults might be a prelude to an incursion by land forces, which Turkey has sent into northern Iraq in the past to tackle PKK fighters.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in 1984.
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Comments (2)
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Turkish state must know well that no bombading and no crossing border do not end PKK because PKK is apart from Kurdish people and its liberazation movement but Turkey must know it's better to let the Kurds to decide about its future and its self determinaton and like all other people aroun the world have the right to esteblis its states. if the US and EU continue to list PKK as a terroris they are takingpart the enmity against KUrdish people. PKK is ready for peace solution. I ask them is there any any terrorist organisation work for peace its better that US and EU reconsider thir situation if they do that its helpfull for por resolution and ending the blood shed
Turkey vs Kurdish Rebels
One should not forget that this is the same Turkey that wants to join the EU, has undergone a recent transition to an islamic thugocracy, and denies the Armeanian genocide. Ok, maybe a bit less threatening than the Taliban, but really...
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