Turkey Launches Cross-Border Assault on Kurdish Rebels in Iraq
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish troops have launched their largest cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq since a six-week drive in spring, the Turkish military said Thursday.
Iraqi Kurds said Turkish planes bombed seven villages nine miles inside Iraqi territory, wounding three civilians and damaging houses.
But Turkish officials denied there were civilian casualties, saying the bombings were at least a mile from civilian areas. A military spokesman said 57 guerrillas had been killed.
The Foreign Ministry described the offensive, which began Wednesday, as a “few limited, pinpoint operations.”
The military incursion followed an upsurge in raids from Iraq by Turkish Kurdish guerrillas on Turkish military posts. Kurds have been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
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