By Xinhua
Diyarbakir, Turkey : Many Turkish warplanes which took off from Diyarbakir airbase in southeastern Turkey on Sunday hit the headquarters of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) on Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, eye witnesses told Xinhua.
Eye witnesses claimed that following the bombing by the 24 Turkish warplanes, the PKK headquarter office completely collapsed and two other nearby buildings were hit by missiles.
Hussein Ahmad Elchi, sub-governor of Qalediza Town near Qandil Mountain in northern Iraq, told Xinhua that one person was killed and six others were injured during the Turkish operation, adding the injured were taken to hospital for medical treatment.
A statement issued by the Turkish General Staff posted on its Web site said the Turkish warplanes bombed the PKK targets in northern Iraq early in the day.
It said the warplanes hit PKK targets in regions bordering the Turkish territories as well as in Qandil Mountain, which is further away from the frontier.
The Turkish warplanes bombed the PKK targets at 01:00 local time (GMT 2300 Saturday) and returned to their bases at 04:15 (GMT0214), said the statement.
The military operation was also backed by Turkish Land Forces’ long-range weapons, it added.
“The operations will continue in line with the necessities of the military within the scope of the authorization given to the Turkish Armed Forces in fight against terrorist organization PKK,” the statement said.
The Turkish military has launched several cross-border attacks recently in a bid to fight separatist PKK rebels, who use northern Iraq as a launch pad for attacks against Turkey.
Security operations are underway in southeastern and eastern Turkey as 100,000 Turkish troops have massed along Turkish-Iraqi borders in preparations for a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000-strong PKK rebels.
The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.