Turkish planes bomb Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq
Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel positions in neighbouring northern Iraq late Saturday, the latest in a series of air strikes in the region since December, the Turkish army said.
The "intensive" bombing in the Avasin-Basyan region, which started at 1500 GMT Saturday backed by artillery fire, destroyed several Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) facilities and killed a yet unknown number of militants, the statement on Sunday said.
The militants had retreated there after taking part in a deadly attack on a Turkish military outpost near the border Friday night, it said.
"The Turkish Armed Forces will continue to fight terrorism with an increasing determination and any treacherous act against the Turkish Republic and its army will be given an immediate and multifold response," the statement said.
At least 19 rebels and six soldiers were killed in clashes and a bombing raid in southeastern Turkey late Friday and early Saturday after the PKK attacked a military outpost near the Iraqi border in Hakkari province.
The PKK attack was carried out "to change the atmosphere of panic" among the group's ranks that followed a Turkish air raid on rebel positions in northern Iraq on May 1-2 that "dealt the terrorist organisation a serious blow," the army said Saturday.
It also reported disarray within the group, with several leaders allegedly abandoning their mountain hideouts and many militants fleeing their camps.
The May 1-2 strike, which targeted rebel camps in the Qandil mountains, a major PKK stronghold along the Iraqi-Iranian border, resulted in the killing of more than 150 PKK militants, according to the army.
Many of the some 200 militants believed to remain based in Qandil had laid down their arms and fled deeper into northern Iraq, dispersing in settlements in the region, which is run by the Iraqi Kurds, it said.
Senior PKK commander Cemil Bayik fled into a neighbouring country together with a large group of militants, which engaged in clashes with local security forces, the army said.
It did not name the country, but it appears to be Iran, which is fighting its own Kurdish militants, who are associated with the PKK and also take refuge in the Qandil mountains.
Many of Bayik's bodyguards were killed but his fate remains unknown, the statement said.
However, a senior PKK member denied Saturday that rebel units in northern Iraq were disintegrating and that Bayik had fled.
Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Turkey has stepped up military action against the group since December, carrying out several air strikes and a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq in February, where it says more than 2,000 PKK rebels take refuge.
The United States, which like Turkey lists the PKK as a terrorist group, has backed its NATO ally's military action in Iraq by providing intelligence on PKK movements there.
Turkey has also revived dialogue with the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq, whom it has long accused of tolerating and even aiding the PKK, in a bid to enlist their cooperation against the rebels.
The Turkish government has a one-year parliamentary authorisation for cross-border military action against the PKK, which expires in October.
AFP
