Turkish planes hit PKK targets in north Iraq

Turkish warplanes and artillery attacked 31 Kurdish rebel bases on Friday as part of a week-long operation in northern Iraq after an attack that killed 17 Turkish soldiers, the military said.

Ahmed Danees, spokesman for the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq, said that new shelling had taken place in mountainous areas inside Iraq for about an hour yesterday, but gave no further details.

The Turkish president said yesterday for the first time publicly that Ankara was talking to the Iraqi Kurdish government about acting against the PKK, which launches attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey has in the past publicly shunned the Iraqi Kurds, blaming them for not doing enough to drive out the PKK, and said it was dealing with the central government in Baghdad.

The military has stepped up its operations against the PKK in southeast Turkey and across the border in Iraq after deadly attacks by the separatists on Turkish soldiers a week ago.

An army statement issued yesterday said Turkish planes and artillery attacked the 31 PKK targets in northern Iraq's Hakurk region around midnight on Friday and the operation was successful.

The military did not say what damage was caused or if there had been any casualties. A PKK spokesman said the guerrillas suffered no casualties.

Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, said Turkish shelling took place overnight.