Turkey says planes bomb PKK post in Iraq
Statement gives no details
Turkish fighter planes bombed a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group in northern Iraq late on Saturday, the army said on its website on Sunday, without giving further details on what it described as a “successful operation”.
The air raid targeted a cave in the Avasin-Basyan region, which served as a base for a "large group" of PKK militants who were preparing for an attack across the border in Turkey, the statement said.
The hideout "was hit successfully" and the warplanes returned safely to their bases, it said, without giving details on any losses among the rebels.
Turkish fighter jets have been bombing PKK positions in the mountains of northern Iraq since December 16.
Ankara estimates that more than 2,000 militants are holed up in Kurdish-run northern Iraq, using camps there as a springboard for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.
The Turkish government has a one-year parliamentary authorization for cross-border military action against the PKK, which expires in October.
The United States has backed its NATO ally by providing real-time intelligence on PKK movements in Iraq.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.