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Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq: report
Ankara (AFP) March 13, 2009 Turkish warplanes have carried out new bombing raids against Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, the Anatolia news agency reported Friday, quoting an army spokesman. The strike on Thursday targeted hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Zap-Avashin region of the Kurdish-held autonomous north of Iraq, General Metin Gurak told reporters, according to Anatolia. He gave no indication of possible losses to the rebels, but underlined that measures were taken to prevent harming the civilian population in the region. In Iraq, a PKK spokesman said they suffered no casualties in the raid that targeted the Jamjo area in Zagrus on the Iraqi-Turkish border between 11:00 am (0900 GMT) and 12:00 pm (1000 GMT). The area "belongs to the PKK and there are no casualties", Ahmed Denis said from his base in the Qandil mountains. The PKK, blacklisted as a "terrorist" organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, picked up arms for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 44,000 lives. The Turkish army has been targeting rebel bases in Iraq under a parliamentary authorisation for cross-border military action, which was first approved in 2007 and renewed for another year in October. Last week, the army said about 375 PKK rebels were either killed or wounded in Turkish air strikes or artillery fire since October. It did not give a breakdown of the dead and wounded. Ankara says about 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq, from where they launch attacks on Turkish territory. In November, Iraq, Turkey and the United States formed a joint committee to track the threat posed by the PKK and enact measures to curb the militants. burs-han/ms/gk Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Iraq/Afghan War News: Taliban was in Gitmo
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 12, 2009Lawyers for Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi said Thursday they would launch an appeal challenging the three-year prison term handed down by the courts. Baghdad is prepared to assume full responsibility of the Sons of Iraq program by transferring its members to vocational or security roles, U.S. officials said. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki to Canberra on Thursday, praising the developments in Iraq. A Taliban chief responsible for attacks on British forces in Afghanistan was a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, The Times of London reports. Falling food prices and increased donor aid are doing little to help the 42 percent of the Afghan population living on less than $1 a day, officials said. Western nations can sway moderate elements in the Taliban, though the effort there requires additional troops and resources, an Afghan diplomat said. |
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