Turkey says US backed raids on PKK
General says US opened Iraqi airspace as Baghdad demands an end to the air raids.
Iraqi officials said 10 villages were bombed early on Sunday morning, leaving at least one woman dead and forcing hundreds of people to flee.
Abdullah Ibrahim, mayor of Sankasar town, said that 200 families had fled their homes in villages in the Sankasar and Jarawa administrative areas and at least 10 houses had been destroyed.
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Ankara denied that civilian areas had been hit in the attacks.
“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.”
Buyukanit said that Sunday’s attacks had been successful and all targets destroyed.
“No civilian targets or villages were hit even accidentally,” he said.
“The Turkish armed forces have given the message to the Turkish public and the world that whether it is winter or summer, we will find and hit them even if they live in caves.”
Thousands of troops
Ankara has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery and military aircraft, along the mountainous border.
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The Iraqi foreign ministry said that the Turkish military activity “may affect the friendly relations between the two governments and peoples”.
“This attack has destroyed hospitals, schools and bridges. We demand that Turkish authorities stop such actions against innocents,” Mahmoud al-Hajj Humoud, deputy foreign minister, said in a statement.
“We will continue to wage this battle for our nation’s unity and peace, both inside and outside Turkey,” he said in televised comments made during a visit to the Aegean port of Izmir.