The Turkish military on Thursday confirmed that Turkish Air Force planes bombed on Wednesday suspected Kurdish rebel position in northern Iraq, according to dpa. In a short statement posted on its website, the Turkish General Staff said warplanes bombed a group of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas rebels in the northern Iraq region of Hakurk near the Iraqi border with Iran. The statement said the PKK separatists were planning on moving into Turkey to stage attacks. The statement did not say what type or how many warplanes were involved in the attack. The airstrikes are the second time Turkish warplanes have hit PKK rebels inside Iraq since the end almost two months ago of a a week- long incursion into northern Iraq which saw up to 10,000 soldiers sent across the border to seek out Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebels and their camps. According to the Turkish military, 240 PKK fighters, 24 Turkish soldiers and three Turkish state-employed village guards were killed in the week-long operation. Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 32,000 people since the early 1980s when the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east of Turkey. The PKK is listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group.
