Turkey attacks PKK fighters in Iraq

Europe

Army says it has inflicted heavy damage on a group of Kurdish separatists.

Last Modified: 01 Dec 2007 17:34 GMT

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Ankara has been under intense domestic pressure
to act against PKK fighters [AFP]

Turkey's army has entered northern Iraq and launched attacks on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters, the Turkish army has said.

The military said on Saturday that it used artillery and air strikes on a group of between 50 and 60 Kurdish fighters inside Iraqi territory, southeast of the Turkish town of Cukurca in Hakkari province.

"As part of intelligence work, a group of 50-60 PKK terrorist group was spotted inside Iraq's borders," the army said on its website.

Four to six helicopters were sent to bomb a camp used by the PKK.

"An intense intervention was made on the group and it was detected that the terrorist group had suffered heavy casualties."

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A Turkish military official told Reuters news agency that around 100 special forces were also sent into northern Iraq.

However, a senior leader of the PKK in Iraq, near Turkey's border, denied that the Turkish army had attacked its fighters.

"Our area is quiet. Nothing has happened. There are no air strikes nor any artillery shells," the official told AFP news agency.

In the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil, Fuad Hussein, chief of staff for Massud Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdish region, did not categorically confirm the strikes but said "it could be artillery shelling."

He said a ground assault by Turkish forces was unexpected given the "prevailing weather conditions."

Authorisation

The army operation came a day after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said his cabinet had authorised the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in northern Iraq.

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Kurdistan Workers' Party

Ankara had been under intense domestic pressure to act against PKK fighters.

Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border, backed up by tanks, artillery and warplanes, for a possible strike into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq against PKK fighters.

Ankara has made many threats of military action but, under heavy US pressure, has so far shown restraint.

Washington fears a large-scale operation could destabilise the most stable part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.

Turkey's parliament approved a resolution on October 17 giving the government the legal basis to order cross-border military operations if and when it deemed them necessary.

Source:

Agencies

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