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Turkish army strikes Kurdish PKK rebel
targets in Iraqi Kurdistan
9.5.2010
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May 9, 2010
ANKARA, — The
Turkish air force has struck Kurdish rebel hideouts
in neighbouring Kurdistan region of Iraq after an
attack inside Turkey left two soldiers dead, the
military said late Friday.
"After detecting that anti-aircraft fire was opened
on (Turkish) helicopters from various positions
across the border, the air force fired on those
positions" for an hour Friday afternoon, the army
said in an online statement.
"It has been observed that those positions were
destroyed," it said.
The operation against the Turkey separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has rear bases
in Iraq, began after a group of about 25 rebels
attacked a commando unit near the border village of
Daglica Friday morning, killing two soldiers. |
Turkish army strikes Kurdish PKK rebel targets in
Iraqi Kurdistan region |
The statement confirmed
that at least five PKK militants were killed in the
ensuing clashes.
"Operations in the region are continuing and it is
believed that the losses of the terrorists are
higher," it said.
The Turkish army has staged a series of air raids
against PKK bases in Kurdistan in Iraq's north since
December 2007, often with the help of US
intelligence, and in February 2008 carried out a
week-long
ground incursion.
In October 2007, Daglica, nestled among rugged
mountains, was the scene of one of the bloodiest PKK
attacks in recent years in which rebels sneaking in
from Iraq ambushed a patrol, killing 12 soldiers and
wounding 17 others.
The attack turned up pressure on the government for
cross-border military action against the PKK, paving
the way for subsequent parliamentary authorisation
to that effect, which expires in October.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
[Turkey-Kurdistan] which has claimed around 45,000
lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community
openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The arrival of spring usually brings a resurgence of
violence as the rebels move out from their mountain
hideouts in Turkey and neighbouring Iraq when the
snow melts.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, AFP | Agencies
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