TURKISH WARPLANES HIT SOME 70 PKK TARGETS

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2008 13:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish warplanes hit some 70 targets belonging to
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq in the
latest cross-border attack against the terrorist organization.

The General Staff said in a statement that the raid on the PKK targets,
defined by the intelligence sources, began around 3:00 a.m. and that
its planes returned safely to base after completing their mission
successfully around 15:15 p.m.

It emphasized that the targets were confirmed to belong to the PKK and
that maximum attention was shown to make sure the civilians will not
be harmed. The targets were located in Ayashin-Basyan and Hakurk area.

The military did not say how many planes participated in the
attack. Earlier in the day, an Iraqi Kurdish official said five
fighter jets bombed the PKK hideouts in northern Iraq. Jabbar Yawar,
an undersecretary for the ministry governing Kurdish protection
forces known as peshmerga, said, however, that the raid lasted
one hour early Monday in an area inside Iraq along the country’s
northern border with Turkey. The area includes the towns of Khnera,
where the PKK is believed to have a large base, Khwakurd and Sidakan
in Arbil province, he said. Yawar also said there were no civilian
or peshmerga casualties in the mostly abandoned area.

Turkey has frequently targeted members of the outlawed PKK in
cross-border raids into Iraqi territory, where thousands of the
terrorists are based. The PKK uses its strongholds in northern Iraq
for cross-border strikes into Turkey.

Since Dec. 16, the Turkish military had confirmed four cross-border
aerial raids into Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish officials, however, have reported
other air strikes by Turkish jets, but those have never been confirmed
by Turkey.

Turkey’s military says the raids have inflicted heavy losses on the
PKK, killing as many as 175 militants and destroying command and
logistic centers, shelters and ammunition depots.

Meanwhile, troops killed 10 PKK terrorists in clashes in the eastern
province of Bingol, officials said. The clashes were continuing
despite severe weather conditions in the region.

The United States – which with Turkey and the European Union considers
the PKK a terrorist organization – has cautioned Ankara against a
large incursion into northern Iraq, fearing it could disrupt one of
Iraq’s more stable regions, Today’s Zaman reports.