"There is a lot more work to be done, but the two countries have agreed
to put aside their differences to eliminate the Kurdish terrorist threat,"
an official said.
Officials said the Iranian Army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
exploited Turkish cooperation to invade northern Iraq in late June. They said IRGC operations have intensified near the Kandil mountains
in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
The pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency has reported that the Turkish Army
deployed 20 U.S.-origin main battle tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles and 300
commandos in Iran to help
battle Kurdish fighters, Middle East Newsline reported. Earlier, Firat reported the death of five Iranian
soldiers in a battle in Kandil on July 16.
In contrast, Teheran said its IRGC-aligned Basij forces trapped and
killed 50 Kurdish insurgents in Iran's West Azerbaijan province. Iran has
denied invading northern Iraq.
"The PJAK terrorists were killed by the local Kurdish Basij forces," the
Iranian Army said. "The bodies of the terrorists were left in the area."
"We again demand that the Iranian government stop its continuing
shelling because this is not constructive for Iraq-Iranian relations and
will damages ties," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on July 27.
"The shelling has continued for five years, but this time the duration has
been longer than previous instances."
At the same time, the Turkish Army has launched an operation against the
PKK along the Iraqi border. Turkish media reports asserted that PKK outposts
in the Kandil mountains were shelled in wake of a PKK ambush in which 13
Turkish soldiers were killed on July 14.