Kurd targets in northern Iraq bombed
Web posted at: 1/16/2008 3:30:47
Source ::: AFP

ARBIL • Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq yesterday in the latest in a series of cross-border air strikes, Turkey's military and northern Iraqi security forces said.

"Intensive" strikes targetted Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in the regions of Zap-Sivi, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk, the Turkish army general staff announced in a statement on its website.

"The aircraft returned safely to base after successfully completing their mission," it said, adding that "maximum care" was taken to avoid civilian casualties. It gave no toll.

General Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga security forces of northern Iraq, said the air strikes had been preceded by an artillery barrage.

"The Turkish artillery bombarded the areas of Khakurg and Nirikan near Amadiyah," some 450km north of Baghdad, Yawar said in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil.

"Turkish military planes then took up the offensive and bombarded the same areas," added Jawar, who said the attack had lasted nearly two hours.