TURKEY: Turkish warplanes kill at least 35 people in overnight air strike near the Iraqi border

Record ID: 340598

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkish warplanes kill at least 35 people in overnight air strike near the Iraqi border
  • Date: 30th December 2011
  • Summary: SIRNAK, TURKEY (DECEMBER 29, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VILLAGERS CARRYING DEAD BODIES ON DONKEYS VILLAGERS CARRYING MORE BODIES ON TRUCKS (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) UNIDENTIFIED VILLAGER SAYING: "I have two brothers, and they died." (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) UNIDENTIFIED VILLAGER SAYING: "I had two brave sons. I lost my sons." BODIES ON GROUND MAN MOURNING MO
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Accidents,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC3GQVPJRT5WKD3MTBRDYGX2H5
  • Story Text: Turkish warplanes killed at least 35 people in an overnight air strike in south-eastern Turkey near the Iraqi border, apparently mistaking smugglers for Kurdish militants, according to a pro-Kurdish party and local officials.
    The mayor of Uludere in Sirnak province, Fehmi Yaman, said the victims of Thursday's (December 29) attack were smugglers, hit from the air. The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said in a statement that 35 people had been killed.
    The Turkish government was not immediately available for comment.
    People heaped the corpses onto donkeys which were led down the hillside to be loaded into vehicles to be taken to hospital in the mainly Kurdish south-east of the country.
    Smuggling is an important source of income for locals in provinces along the Iraqi border, with many villagers involved in bringing fuel, cigarettes and other goods from Iraqi villages on the other side of the border. PKK militants also cross the border in these areas.
    Security sources said those killed were carrying canisters of diesel on mules and their bodies were found on the Iraqi side of the border, adding that the victims were from Uludere on the Turkish side of the border on what was a regular smuggling route.
    Turkish warplanes strike militant targets regularly in the region in their battle against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas, and have stepped up raids after a PKK attack in August.
    Turkey and Iran have often skirmished with rebels in the region and Turkish leaders vowed revenge in October with air and ground strikes after the PKK killed 24 Turkish soldiers in raids on military outposts in south-eastern Turkey.
    It was one of the deadliest attacks since the PKK took up arms in 1984 in a conflict in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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