Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). He has been held in prison since 1998. The US military is threatening to attack PKK supporters in northern Iraq., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Turkish military jets bomb PKK bases in N. Iraq
ISTANBUL, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- 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.
8 killed, 14 wounded in PKK attack in southeast Turkey
ANKARA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- A total of seven soldiers of the Turkish security forces and one security guard were killed and another 14 soldiers were wounded in an attack staged by the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in the southeast of Turkey on Wednesday, semi-official Anatolia News Agency reported.
The attack came hours after the Turkish government declared the beginning of a new era in its struggle against terrorism.
Turkish government officials vowed to retaliate against the PKK members, as the death toll of soldiers has risen to 30 since July.
"Our patience in this holy month of Ramadan has been exhausted, " Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul.
"(At) first a mine blast, and then they attacked armored personnel carriers, which has brought up the number (of the killed) to eight including a village guard," said Erdogan, adding that those who carried out such attacks would "pay the price."
Following four mine explosions in two different spots on a road in the largely Kurdish Cukurca district of the Hakkari province when a military convoy was passing by, the PKK rebels mounted an attack on the troops which were trying to respond to the blasts.
The Turkish security forces launched massive operations in the region as the PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.
Denouncing the attacks, Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said the army would retaliate against the PKK without necessarily waiting to the end of Ramadan.
"Our security forces are always on alert and will do whatever necessary," Gul told reporters in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
On whether the army was planning to conduct a cross-border operation into northern Iraq, the defense minister did not rule out the possibility, saying that "We will determinately execute every sort of anti-terror fight within the bounds of democracy and rule of law."
Asked about the possibility of a cross-border military operation, Erdogan said that "These things are not talked about before they are done."
The government has a valid parliamentary mandate until Oct. 18 allowing carrying out military operations against the PKK bases in northern Iraq, which sets up a legitimate ground for such a move.
As the PKK extends its attacks recently, the Turkish government plans to launch more operations against terrorism.
The Turkish government announced Tuesday that they were on a work for a new strategy in fighting against the PKK.
"We will overcome this by renewing our strategies. A new era is beginning," said Erdogan on Tuesday.
Turkish officials and the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan have been in negotiations for months to lay down the arms of the organization. Ocalan sent a message through his lawyers in July, saying that he had agreed with government officials to set up a " peace council" that aimed at ending the conflict.
The PKK killed 13 soldiers in July, the highest death toll in a month for the government troops since the group unilaterally ended a ceasefire in February. More than 30 Turkish soldiers were killed in intensified PKK attacks since July.
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. More than 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK over the past two decades.
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