Seven Iraqis killed in Turkish airstrike
22 August, 2011
ARBIL: Seven Iraqis were killed in an airstrike by a Turkish warplane in Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish zone on Sunday, the first civilian casualties since the strikes began, a local mayor and eyewitnesses said. The strike hit a car in which the civilians were travelling, Hassan Abdulla, mayor of the town of Qalat Dizah, located northeast of the city of Sulaimaniya, told Reuters. "Today there was a rocket from a Turkish plane that hit a civilian vehicle, a pickup, carrying seven civilians. The seven were killed," Abdulla said. "The rocket has badly damaged the car. We could not recognise the bodies, their ages, their identities or even their sex." A Reuters witness said he saw six Turkish warplanes take off from a base in southeastern Turkey on Sunday morning but it was not immediately clear where the planes were headed. Turkish warplanes have been targeting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels from Wednesday following increased attacks by the guerrilla forces in southeastern Turkey. The Turkish airstrikes are the first against rebels in the mountains of northern Iraq in more than a year and mark a sudden escalation of the 27-year-old conflict after the collapse of efforts to negotiate a settlement. The Turkish General Staff has issued statements on its website confirming three consecutive nights of air strikes on northern Iraq starting on Wednesday night. The last statement appeared on Saturday morning. There did not appear to have been any air strikes on Saturday night. Turkish jets carried out airstrikes against a Kurdish separatist group's bases in north Iraq for a fifth day on Sunday, and began shelling for the first time, a rebel spokesman told AFP. "At about 11:00 am (0800 GMT), Turkish aircraft started bombing five areas," Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman Ahmed Denis told AFP by telephone. He said the areas being bombed were Qandil, Khowakirk, Haftan, Jabal Mattine and Jabal Karra, all along Iraq's border with Turkey. He said the strikes were continuing as of 12:30 pm (0930 GMT), and that the Turkish army had begun artillery bombardments against Khowakirk, Zakarus and Ifsahim earlier Sunday morning. Denis said Turkey had also carried out air strikes against Jabal Mattine and Haftan on Saturday night. He did not specify if there had been any casualties in the bombing or shelling. The spokesman also said he believes the Turkish army is preparing for an incursion into north Iraq. "The Turkish army is making preparations on the border with the Kurdistan region of Iraq to enter in a battle with members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party," he said. The Turkish military launched a first wave of bomb attacks on Wednesday against PKK targets in Iraq after a deadly attack by the rebel group against a military unit in Cukurca town in southeast Turkey that killed nine security personnel. End.
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