Turkey Says It Killed 100 Kurdish Rebels in Iraq
Baku, August 23 (AZERTAC). Turkey`s military said Tuesday air strikes on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq this week have killed an estimated 90 to 100 guerrillas and warned that it would press ahead with offensives against the group both inside Turkey and across the border.
The military said in a statement posted on its website that than 80 separatist rebels were injured in six days of cross-border air raids that began on Wednesday, hours after eight soldiers and a government-paid village guard were killed in an ambush by the Kurdistan Workers` Party, or PKK, near the border with Iraq.
"According to initial information obtained, between 90 and 100 terrorists were rendered ineffective, more than 80 wounded terrorists were moved to hospitals or villages, and contact with a high number of terrorists was cut," the military said. "Rendered ineffective" is a term used by the military to refer to rebels killed.
"Iraq`s north and domestic areas will be monitored for separatist terrorist activity and air and ground operations will continue," it said.
The military said targets hit included 79 shelters and hideouts, 18 caves, eight depots, 14 PKK buildings or facilities, one ammunition depot, nine anti-aircraft gun positions and three rebel road blocks.
The rebels have denied any losses, insisting that areas hit by the Turkish warplanes were long-abandoned bases. The PKK said Tuesday that the military`s claim of the number of rebel deaths was a "baseless fabrication."
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