- Title: TURKEY: Turkish army says warplanes strike PKK targets in Northern Iraq
- Date: 26th April 2008
- Summary: (BN10) CIZRE, TURKEY (APRIL 25, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF TURKISH SOLDIERS SWEEPING LANDMINES AT TURKISH-IRAQI BORDER VARIOUS OF TURKISH SOLDIERS AND MILITARY VEHICLES AT TURKISH-IRAQI BORDER PATROLLING AND SWEEPING LANDMINES HELICOPTER SECURING AREA
- Embargoed: 11th May 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA5FETNDJUAACF198EJWJ0W5IBK
- Story Text: Turkish warplanes struck Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets inside northern Iraq on Friday (April 25) and Saturday (April 26), the General Staff said on Saturday.
Army sources said it was the biggest operation against separatist targets in northern Iraq this year. The military also bombed PKK targets on Wednesday (April 23), one of several missions since the end of a February land-offensive into northern Iraq aimed at rebels using the neighbouring country as a base.
Turkey's army tends to step up operations against the guerrillas in the spring when the snow melts, making movement in the mountainous area easier.
"Turkish Airforce planes, supported by ground weapons, struck PKK targets in an effective operation on April 25-26," it said in a statement on its website.
Army sources had said on Friday that an air operation was carried out at around 1630 GMT.
The Turkish military staged an eight-day incursion into northern Iraq in February against the PKK, which Ankara blames for 40,000 deaths since 1984, when the group took up arms to carve out an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey.
The United States and the European Union, along with Turkey, consider the PKK a terrorist organisation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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