Turkish jets bombed PKK in northern Iraq

At least 10 Turkish fighter jets bombed suspected terrorist positions in northern Iraq on Thursday, senior security sources said on Friday.

The sources, who declined to be named, said the strikes began after 1900 GMT on Thursday in two separate regions in northern Iraq.

"Last night two separate regions were bombed where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was believed to be taking shelter," a high-ranking security official told Reuters.
Turkish armed forces have conducted several cross-border operations, including a brief land offensive, against the terrorist PKK bases in mountainous northern Iraq over the past 12 months.

Turkey says it believes that thousands of terrorist PKK militants use northern Iraq to stage attacks inside Turkey.

The government has asked parliament to extend a mandate, which expires next month, to launch further military operations against the terrorists in northern Iraq.
Since a land offensive in February, Turkey's military has confined its cross-border operations to air strikes and shelling against PKK targets.

Ankara blames the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, for the deaths of more than 40,000 people since it launched its campaign with the aim of autonomy in southeast Turkey in 1984.

26.09.2008
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