IRAQ: Turkish warplanes bomb Iraqi Kurdish village

Turkish warplanes are reported to have attacked a village in the mountainous north of Iraq's Kurdistan region on Wednesday (October 24). An Iraqi Kurdish security official said the bombing caused material damage but no casualties. He told Reuters it occured northeast of the northern town of Dahuk. Hajji Fattah, a resident of the Kurdish village of Cashin, told Reuters it was his village that was attacked on Wednesday. "Our lands and orchards have been damaged. We have been attacked with many rockets." Another unidentified local told of his fear of the bombings. "Turkey is hurting us so much,' he said. "Their warplanes are attacking us. They attack our villages. We are families and we are afraid of the attacks." Turkish security sources said Turkish warplanes had flown a series of sorties 20 km (12 miles) into Iraq between Sunday (October 21) and Tuesday evening (October 23), while some 300 troops had advanced about 10 km (6 miles). A Turkish military official said further "hot pursuit raids" could be expected, although none had taken place on Wednesday he said. Turkey's government is under pressure at home to strike at separatist Kurdish guerrillas hiding in the northern Iraqi mountains who have stepped up attacks on Turkish soldiers this year. Turkey has deployed as many as 100,000 troops on the Iraqi border and warned it will launch a major incursion into northern Iraq against the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) unless U.S. and Iraqi forces clamp down on the group. Baghdad and Washington have urged Turkey to refrain from military action, saying this could destabilise the wider region.

ITN Source | October 25, 2007

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