Turkey again bombs N. Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net -

Turkey has bombed theSulaimaniyahandArbilprovinces of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region, wounding one civilian, Kurdish officials said on Wednesday, November 23.

"The Turkish aerial bombardment was renewed on Tuesday night and the civilianIsmail Baz Hamed, 20, was wounded during this bombing," saidHassan Abdullah, the mayor of theQalat Dizaharea in Sulaimaniyah.

"The bombing caused heavy damage to farms and livestock in Qalat Dizah," he said.

An official fromKurdistanregion's interior ministry said there were also strikes in Arbil province.

"Turkish airplanes bombed many areas... in Arbil on Tuesday night," the official said on condition of anonymity, AFP reports.

It was the second timeTurkeyhas reportedly carried out strikes in Kurdistan this month, as part of its long-running conflict with the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has bases in the region.

TheTurkish militarylaunched an operation in Kurdistan last month after a PKK attack killed 24 soldiers in the town of Cukurca near the Iraqi border, the army's biggest loss since 1993.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK took up arms for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has killed about 45,000 people.