By Xinhua,
Ankara : Turkish jets and artillery struck targets of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Friday and early Saturday, Turkish General Staff said in a statement issued on Saturday.
The General Staff said in a statement posted on its website that the strike targeted a group of PKK rebels in Zap, Avashin and Khakurk regions of northern Iraq who were trying to infiltrate Turkey to carry out attacks.
“All planes returned to base safely after successfully executing their mission,” added the statement.
Also on Wednesday, Turkish jets hit PKK targets in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq.
The Turkish military has periodically bombed and shelled suspected PKK positions in northern Iraq during the past few months. In February it launched an eight-day ground incursion into Iraq.
The United States has been sharing intelligence about the group with Turkey. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari reaffirmed the commitment of their countries to fight the PKK, at a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq in Kuwait.
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.