Turkish air raid targets senior Kurdish rebels in Iraq: army
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Turkish warplanes have bombed a Kurdish rebel base believed to contain senior militants in neighbouring Iraq, the army said.
It was the seventh Turkish air strike in northern Iraq since October 3 when Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants crossing from their bases in the region attacked a Turkish border outpost, killing 17 soldiers.
The jets on Sunday evening (local time) struck a hideout in the mountainous Zap region, a major rebel stronghold, where "a PKK group which included high-level members" was determined to be, the army said in a statement.
It did not specify any casualties from the raid.
The Turkish parliament on Wednesday extended by one year the Government's mandate to order cross-border military operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, which has long enjoyed safe haven in the region.
Just as the lawmakers voted, a police bus was machine-gunned in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the predominately Kurdish south-east, claiming five lives.
The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement on its website that it was a "successful action" by its militants.
The police have detained nine people in connection with the incident, among them three alleged PKK militants believed to have taken part in the attack.
-AFP
