Turkish warplanes bomb Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq on Saturday in a new cross-border offensive, the General Staff said.



The Turkish military said the offensive against outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas inside Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq would continue.



"Turkish Air Force warplanes struck important targets of the PKK/KONGRA-GEL terror group in northern Iraq ... between the hours of 14:25-15:00 (7:25 a.m. - 8 a.m. EST)," the General Staff statement, posted on its website, said.



"The PKK will understand through experience that northern Iraq is not a safe place and they will understand once again that they have no chance against the Turkish military," it said.



Turkey says it has the right to use force to combat separatist rebels who shelter in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq and mount attacks in which they have killed dozens of Turkish troops in recent months.



Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan did not confirm or deny a Turkish raid on Sunday. But he defended the country's right to use military force to attack the PKK across the border. "We are using our rights based on international law," he said.



The United States, which lists the PKK as a terrorist group, says it shares common interests with Turkey in stopping PKK activities in Iraq but fears a further escalation in tension could destabilize Iraq's more stable north and the region.



The military said the Turkish warplanes returned safely to bases after the attacks. It said it was too early to give any casualty figures.



Iraqi Kurdish security forces said they had suffered no casualties in the bombing.



"The aerial bombardment didn't result in any people killed because the area is almost deserted because of fear of aerial and mortar attacks from the Turkish side," Jabbar Yawer, spokesman for Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, said, Reuters reports.