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Kurdish fighters killed in Iraq

Mar 30 2008

Kurdish fighters killed in Iraq

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By Agencies

Hundreds of PKK fighters were killed when Turkish soldiers launched an offensive in February [AFP]
Turkey's armed forces say they have killed at least 15 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after hitting a position in northern Iraq with artillery and air raids.

The deaths of the PKK fighters on Thursday were the first since Turkish troops ended a large-scale ground incursion last month.

Air strikes were launched in the same area on Friday, but it was unclear if there were any casualties.

The fighters were trying to cross into Turkey, where they had planned an attack, the military's general staff said on its website on Saturday.

Turkish warplanes and artillery have periodically bombed and shelled PKK positions in northern Iraq over several months, helped by US intelligence based in Iraq.

In February, the military launched a week-long ground incursion against the PKK by sending thousands of troops into Iraq.

Turkish authorities said that 240 fighters were killed in the campaign, along with 27 Turkish soldiers.

The cross-border operation prompted concern in Washington about further regional instability and was watched closely in Turkey's financial markets.

Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, since the group began its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Turkey, like the European Union and United States, considers the PKK a terrorist organisation.