Turkish planes, shells hit N.Iraq - official says

Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:56am EST


(Adds details, background)

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes and artillery on Tuesday hit remote areas of northeastern Iraq used by Kurdish rebels but there were no reports of casualties or serious damage, an Iraqi Kurdish official said.

Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for the Peshmerga security forces of northern Iraq, said Turkish artillery began shelling around the town of Amadiya in Dahuk province just before midday (0900 GMT).

Turkish warplanes later bombed near the town of Hakurk close to Iraq's remote, mountainous border with Iran and Turkey.

A Reuters reporter in Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir earlier said two Turkish F-16 warplanes had been seen flying over the border province of Hakkari heading towards Iraq.

Four Turkish tanks had also been seen crossing the same province towards the Iraqi border, where Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops.

The shelling was the latest reported cross-border attacks by Turkey since two other areas in Dahuk were shelled on Jan. 11, again without causing significant damage or injury.

On Jan. 3, a bomb attack blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas killed six people in Turkey's Diyarbakir.

Turkish warplanes repeatedly struck PKK targets in the mountainous north of Iraq in December and troops also made small-scale raids across the border with the aim of crushing the guerrilla group.

Turkey, like the United States and European Union, considers the PKK a terrorist group, holding it responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it began an armed struggle for a separate Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Turkey says 3,000 PKK rebels are based in the northern Iraqi mountains, from where they launch raids on Turkish targets.

Turkey's parliament approved a resolution in October giving the legal basis for operations over one year. Turkey claims the right under international law to carry out cross-border attacks. (Reporting by Shamal Aqrawi in Arbil and Sherko Raouf in Sulaimaniya; editing by Keith Weir)



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