Turkish airstrike on border with Iraq kills 35

[News_Editor]

Turkish airstrike on border with Iraq kills 35

2011-12-30 07:38:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

ANKARA, TURKEY (BNO NEWS) -- At least 35 people were killed on late Wednesday evening when Turkish forces carried out an airstrike near a Kurdish village on the border with Iraq, officials said on Thursday.

Turkish warplanes carried out the airstrike in Uludere township of Şırnak province on Wednesday night. Locals said the victims were diesel smuggling peasants, denying claims that they were members of the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The Şırnak Governor's Office said 35 people were killed and one person was wounded as a result of the airstrike. The army said in a statement that the incident occurred in the Sinat-Haftanin region of northern Iraq where the main camps of the PKK are situated, which has no civilians inhabitants.

"Unmanned aerial vehicles found out that a group was approaching the Turkish border from the north of Iraq on Wednesday evening, and Air Force jets hit the targets between 9:37 and 10:24 p.m. last night as the group was seen in an area mostly used by terrorists," the statement said, as quoted by the Anatolia news agency.

The Turkish military has raised its surveillance and controls near the Turkey-Iraq border after receiving reports that PKK members are planning to attack military outposts as a result of Wednesday's incident.

In October, the Turkish government launched a military operation against Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq after clashes broke out. Officials said that a total of 24 soldiers were killed while 18 others were injured.

In a counterattack, Turkey deployed approximately 1,000 soldiers into northern Iraq where security officials said they killed 21 suspected PKK members.

After the incidents, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan called on Turkish Kurds to fight off the PKK, which has increased its attacks in the past few months. Throughout the year, Turkey has carried out airstrikes against suspected PKK targets in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish area and in southeastern Turkey.

The PKK, which has been labeled as a terrorist organizations by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, was established in 1984 in its efforts to establish the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey as an autonomous Kurdish state. Over 40,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed in violent clashes since the group took arms. The PKK maintains its military bases across the Iraqi border.

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