Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish rebel target in Iraq

Times of India ^ | 17 Aug 2008, 1555 hrs IST,AP

[DeaconBenjamin]

ISTANBUL: Turkish warplanes hit a suspected Kurdish rebel target in northern Iraq, Turkey's military said on Sunday.

The cross-border air assault targeted a rebel shelter late on Saturday where a group of PKK Kurdish rebels were believed to have gathered before a planned attack in Turkey, the military said on its website.

The military provided no casualty figures. The reported air raid on the Avasin-Basyan region of Iraq could not independently be confirmed.

Turkey's military has launched several air raids and one ground incursion targeting the PKK rebel safe havens in northern Iraq since the parliament authorized cross-border military moves following a surge in PKK ambushes inside Turkey late last year.

The United States is sharing intelligence with Turkey on the rebels, who maintain bases in Iraq that serve as a launch pad for attacks on targets inside Turkey.

Turkey also has coordinated simultaneous attacks on the rebels with neighbouring Iran, which is fighting against PEJAK, the PKK's Iranian wing.

The rebel group is fighting for self-rule in parts of Turkey's east and southeast. Tens of thousands of people have died in the fighting.

Majority Kurds in northern Iraqi cities such as Kirkuk, the center of Iraq's northern oil fields, also want to annex it and surrounding Tamim province into a self-ruled region there.

[DeaconBenjamin]

No response from US? We need to ship our supplies to Georgia through the Straits.

[null and void]

We should have split Iraq along ethnic lines and walked away.

Turkey deserved having a militant Kurdistan on their border as a suitable reward for their denying us access to Iraq’s northern flank.

Iran deserves a militant Kurdistan on its border, just because it’s Iran...

[WilliamofCarmichael]

"Turkey has stepped up military operations against PKK rebels this year both in Turkey and across the border northern Iraq, where thousands of rebels are based . . . Turkey, the United States and the European Union classify the PKK, formally known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party, as a terrorist group.

We knew beforehand.

"The United States is sharing intelligence with Turkey on the rebels, who maintain bases in Iraq that serve as a launch pad for attacks on targets inside Turkey."