World Tribune.com

Kurds: Iran, Turkey launch artillery attacks on N. Iraq

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, August 15, 2006

ANKARA — Iran and Turkey have attacked Kurdish insurgency strongholds in neighboring Iraq.

The Kurdish Workers Party said Iranian and Turkish forces have been pounding Kurdish targets in northern Iraq since Saturday. The PKK said its base at Hakurk was struck by Iranian and Turkish artillery fire on Aug. 13.

The official website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said Iranian and Turkish batteries have been shelling the mountainous area of Iraq's Kurdistan since Aug. 12. The PUK, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said Iranian and Turkish forces coordinated their attacks on PKK camps.

[On Tuesday, at least 30 people were killed when a car filled with explosives blew up in front of PUK headquarters in Mosul. Officials said the final casualty count could take hours as rescue teams searched through the rubble of the building.]

The PUK has asserted that the shelling could be the first step toward a ground invasion of northern Iraq. Turkey has about 40,000 troops along the border, and Kurdish sources reported increasing incursions by Turkish reconnaissance units.

The artillery strikes were reported less than two weeks after the United States concluded that Turkey would not invade northern Iraq. Both Baghdad and Washington have pledged to end PKK activities.

In early August, Kurdish sources said the Turkish Army attacked a northern Iraqi village. The Kurdistan Democratic Party said this was the fourth Turkish infantry strike in Iraq over the last month.

Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani, who also heads the KDP, has called for a Kurdish representative to be included in a U.S.-proposed committee comprised of Iraq, Turkey and the United States. The panel was meant to plan the removal of the PKK presence in northern Iraq.

"There is talk about forming a committee," Barzani said. "What will this committee do without having a representative of Kurdistan? If peaceful and democratic means for resolution of the issue are sought, we will assist. But if it appeals to military means, we will not be a party to it."


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

Print this Article Print this Article Email this article Email this article Subscribe to this Feature Free Headline Alerts


Google
Search Worldwide Web Search WorldTribune.com