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."