Turkish military says warplanes bomb Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq

Turkish jets bomb Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq over the past two days, Turkey’s military said Friday, a day after violent clashes between the troops and rebels claimed 17 lives.

The air force jets bombed the main rebel base on Mt. Qandil on the Iraqi-Iranian border and the Hakurk area in northeastern Iraq, on Thursday and Friday, the military said in a statement posted on its website.

The statement said the warplanes tried to target rebel positions and avoid civilian casualties.

The Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, said however that the jets had hit abandoned bases in Thursday’s raid.

“Turkish jets bombed at least four villages in the Iraqi-Iranian-Turkish triangle yesterday night, but there were no casualties because the jets bombed the abandoned bases of PKK,” said Ahmet Deniz, a PKK spokesman.

The military said all jets returned to Turkey safely. The statement did not mention any rebel casualties.

Kurdish rebels who have used northern Iraq as a springboard for hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets for decades.

The rebels have recently escalated their attacks in a battle for autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast, saying the government has ignored their call for a dialogue.

Twenty-two soldiers have died in attacks in the past two weeks. At least 54 rebels have been killed in clashes since June, according to military figures.

On Thursday, 12 PKK rebels, two Turkish soldiers and three government-paid village guards were killed in fighting that erupted after a group of rebels fired long-range weapons and rockets at a military unit near the border with Iraq. The military said it sent unmanned drones to the region, and attack helicopters fired on rebels trying to escape.