Turkish warplanes had killed about 150-175 militants of the
outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in the military operations in
northern Iraq on Dec. 16, said a statement issued by the Turkish
General Staff on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the number did not include rebels
who were killed in hide-outs and caves that crumbled, as well as
those injured who were sent to hospitals.
The statement said three command and two communications centers,
two training centers, nine logistics centers, 182 hide-outs and
caves, 10 anti-aircraft defense sites and 14 ammunition storages,
which belonged to the PKK, were completely destroyed.
The statement posted on its Web site said that Turkey's military
has hit more than 200 PKK targets in northern Iraq since Dec. 16,
killing hundreds of rebels.
On Dec. 16, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes at some
villages near the border in the Qandil mountains, which was
reported then to have killed one woman and wounded six other
people.
The statement also said other hideouts were hit in a
cross-border air operation on Dec. 22, followed by artillery
fire.
The Turkish military has recently launched several cross-border
attacks to fight separatist PKK rebels, who use northern Iraq as a
launch pad for attacks against Turkey.
The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist
group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating
an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have
been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.
(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2007)
