skip to main content

Turkey confirms Iraq raids

Turkey - Soldiers on the border with Iraq
Turkey - Soldiers on the border with Iraq

Turkish aircraft have bombed Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq four the fourth time in five days.

The Turkish military also said its offensive against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants would continue.

Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for Peshmerga security forces of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, said the strike lasted about an hour in a mountainous border region of Dahuk province but inflicted no casualties.

Turkey insists it has the right under international law to hit rebels who take shelter in northern Iraq and mount attacks in which they have killed dozens of Turkish troops in recent months.

Turkey says its raids are solely aimed at PKK militants. It has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by warplanes, artillery and tanks, near its mountainous border with Iraq.

The military was authorised last month to launch cross-border operations following what it said were insufficient steps by Iraqi authorities against the PKK.

The Iraqi government and US forces say they support Turkey's right to strike at the PKK but want any action to be coordinated with them and small in scale to avoid destabilising northern Iraq.