Turkish army launches fresh anti-PKK air offensive

11/05/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- The army launched a fresh air offensive against alleged bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq late on Saturday (May 10th), the General Staff said in a statement on Sunday. The operation was carried out in the region of Avasin-Basyan. The fresh offensive came on the heels of clashes Friday between the army and PKK members, during which six troops were killed and another two injured. Nineteen PKK terrorists were killed in the operation, which took place after a group of PKK members attacked a police patrol.

Meanwhile, four people died and about a dozen were injured in three separate landmine explosions in the provinces of Batman, Bingol and Siirt. The first explosion overturned a minibus packed with villagers in the town of Sason in Batman province, killing four people and injuring another five. The second explosion injured a military officer and a village guard member in Siirt province. The third blast hit an army vehicle, injuring three soldiers in Bingol. Turkish authorities have blamed the incidents on Kurdish extremists. (RIA Novosti - 11/05/08; Anadolu news agency, AFP, Reuters, AP, Zaman, DPA, Hurriyet, AFP, BBC - 10/05/08; Anadolu news agency, Xinhua, Hurriyet - 09/05/08)