Turkish military jets bomb PKK bases in N. Iraq
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Xinhua, August 18, 2011
Turkish F-16 jet fighters started bombing the main stronghold of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Wednesday night, local media reported.
Multiple Turkish F-16 jet fighters took off from the Diyarbakir 2nd Air Command to bomb PKK bases in northern Iraq, the report said.
No official confirmation of the air raids was immediately available.
Ten F-16 jets took off in immediate succession and eyewitness reports suggested their flying into northern Iraq, according to the Turkish DHA news agency.
Turkish media quoted internet websites known to be close to the PKK as confirming raids on the main base of the PKK in the Qandil mountain range and other PKK bases near the Iranian and Turkish borders.
Seven Turkish soldiers and one security guard were killed early Wednesday morning in the southeastern district of Hakkari in the latest attack carried out by the PKK.
The PKK has intensified its attacks on Turkish troops in recent times and Turkish officials have vowed to reciprocate with absolute determination.
Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK over the past over two decades.
