Turkey bombs PKK targets in northern Iraq

06/10/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Warplanes bombed terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq on Saturday (October 4th), the Turkish General Staff said in a statement Sunday. The bombings followed an attack Friday by PKK rebels on a military outpost in the border town of Semdinli in the southeastern Hakkari province, which killed 15 Turkish soldiers. "The operations targeted only the PKK terrorist organisation, and necessary precaution was taken to avoid civilian casualties," the statement added.

On Sunday, General Staff Deputy Chief General Hasan Igsiz accused leaders in northern Iraq of tolerating PKK separatists. "We have no support at all from the northern Iraqi administration. ... it is providing [the separatists with] infrastructural capabilities such as hospitals and roads," Igsiz said at a news conference. "Our expectation is that [the PKK] will be acknowledged as a terrorist organisation [by the Iraqi authorities] and that support for the separatists will be cut down."

In a telephone conversation with Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani on Saturday evening, Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged that necessary measures be taken to prevent attacks on Turkey being launched from Iraqi territory. On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a statement condemning Friday's terrorist attack. (Zaman, Milliyet, Radikal - 06/10/08; NTV, AFP, CNN Turk, Anadolu news agency, Hurriyet - 05/10/08)