Turkey again bombs PKK camps in Iraq

26 September 2011, Monday / TODAYSZAMAN.COM, trdefence.com

Turkish warplanes bombed camps of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Sunday as part of its month-long military operation against the PKK in retaliation for a recent spate of attacks inside Turkey against soldiers and civilians.

PKK spokesman Dozdar Hammo told AFP that the bombing started late on Sunday and continued for about one hour, and that Turkish artillery also fired across the border into Iraq.

“Yesterday at about 10:00 pm, there was an air attack against two places — Khowakirk and Khaniran — for about one hour,” Hammo said, adding that there were no victims, the AFP reported on Monday.

“Also yesterday, at about 6:00 pm, there were artillery attacks against another area, Haft Tanine, also without victims,” he added.

PKK members armed with rocket launchers attacked a police station in southeastern Turkey on Saturday, killing six police officers and wounding 11 in a clash in which three terrorists were also killed.

Turkey has threatened to carry out an incursion into northern Iraq to attack PKK bases there, despite opposition from Iraq’s regional Kurdish administration.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Iraq did not protest Turkey’s determination in striking PKK camps in northern Iraq and that Turkey is taking joint cooperative steps with Iran during its operation in northern Iraq.

Earlier this month, Turkish Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said Turkey was preparing a possible ground operation in northern Iraq, depending on the result of talks with Iraq.

The PKK, branded a terrorist group by Ankara, Washington and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 to fight for Kurdish autonomy. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told reporters following a cabinet meeting on Monday that a government motion, expires on Oct. 17, seeking one-year extension of a mandate from Parliament to conduct military operations against the PKK in northern Iraq was sent to the Parliament.