Turkey Bombs Kurdish Area in Iraq

[February 04, 2008]  IRBIL, Iraq (AP) -- Five Turkish fighter jets bombed suspected Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq Monday, a senior Kurdish official said. No casualties were reported.

The raid lasted one hour early Monday in an area inside Iraq along the country's northern border with Turkey, said Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary at the ministry governing the Kurdistan regional government's Peshmerga forces. The area includes the towns of Khnera, Khwakurd and Sidakan in Irbil province, he said.

Yawar said there were no civilian or Peshmerga casualties in the mostly abandoned area.

On Sunday, the Turkish military said troops killed 10 separatist Kurdish rebels at the end of a three-day operation in southeastern Turkey.

The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, has been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey for more than two decades, in a campaign that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.

Turkey has frequently targeted members of the PKK in cross-border raids into Iraqi territory, where thousands of the rebels are based. The group uses its strongholds in northern Iraq to mount strikes inside Turkey.

The rebel group is believed to have a large base in Khnera. It was unclear whether the base was damaged.

Since Dec. 16, the Turkish military has 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 rebels and destroying command and logistic centers, shelters, and ammunition depots.

The U.S. -- 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 country's more stable regions.

[Associated Press; By YAHYA BARZANJI]

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