SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters)
Turkish warplanes bombed villages deep in northern Iraq early on Sunday, killing one woman and wounding two other people in one of the heaviest raids against Kurdish rebels in months, local officials said.
In Ankara, the Turkish military's General Staff said in a statement its warplanes had attacked targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which uses northern Iraq as a base from which to attack security forces inside Turkey.
If the death of the woman is confirmed, it would be the first since Turkey stepped up artillery bombardments and air strikes on suspected PKK bases in the Qandil mountains in October.
The mayors of Jarawa and Sankasar, two towns north of the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, said the air strikes were launched at 2 a.m. (2300 GMT) and continued for several hours. A number of homes and a school were destroyed in 10 villages around 100 km (60 miles) south of the Turkish border, they said.
"Warplanes of the Turkish air force conducted a comprehensive air campaign against targets belonging to the terrorist PKK-Kongra Gel organization in the Qandil mountains from 0100 this morning," the Turkish military statement said.
"The operations solely target the ... terrorist movement. They are not conducted against people living in northern Iraq or local groups not engaged in enemy activity."
Turkish ground forces have also been shelling the area where the guerrillas are believed to be operating, the statement said.
Ankara has massed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border with northern Iraq, along with tanks and artillery.
Turkey says it has the right to defend itself under international law and stage cross-border attacks into northern Iraq against an estimated 3,000 PKK rebels hiding there.
The Turkish cabinet authorized the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation in late November.
Analysts say a major Turkish incursion does not appear imminent, arguing that many Kurdish rebels have moved into neighboring Iran and that weather conditions in northern Iraq are worsening, making a large-scale military strike difficult.
Washington fears such an attack would create chaos in Iraq's most stable region and possibly further afield.
Ankara blames the PKK, which seeks a separate Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey, for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it began its armed struggle in 1984.
The United States and the European Union, like Turkey, classifies the PKK as a terrorist organization. |
