TURKISH GENERAL STAFF ANNOUNCES OPERATION ACHIEVEMENTS IN N. IRAQ

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2008 12:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish warplanes destroyed some 60 Kurdish
guerrilla targets in northern Iraq during an operation this week,
Turkey’s General Staff said on Friday.

The January 15 strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions
in the mountainous region near Turkey’s border followed a series of
cross-border attacks by aircraft in December aimed at crushing the
Turkish rebel group.

There have so far been no reports of casualties or damage caused by
the latest raid on targets in the regions of Zap-Sivi, Avasin-Basyan
and Hakurk.

"During the operation … some 60 targets, confirmed as being used
solely by the terror organization, came under fire from our warplanes,"
the General Staff said in a statement.

It said targets hit included command posts, shelters and training
and logistics sites used by the guerrillas.

The General Staff said it was trying to assess the number of PKK
casualties and would continue its operations.

Ankara says 3,000 PKK rebels are based in the northern Iraq mountains,
from where they launch raids on Turkey. Some 100,000 Turkish troops
are massed along the border with Iraq but Ankara is not expected to
launch a major cross-border land incursion.

In a separate statement on Friday, the General Staff said 21 PKK rebels
had surrendered to Turkish forces in the past month, Reuters reports

Turkey, the United States and the European Union class the PKK as
a terrorist group. Ankara blames the group for the deaths of nearly
40,000 people since the PKK began its armed struggle for a Kurdish
homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.