Turkish warplanes as seen bombarding Iraqi villages

Istanbul, Turkey, December 16, 2007 – “Turkish warplanes and long-range missiles attacked Kurdish rebel positions in the mountains of northern Iraq near the Turkish border early Sunday”, according to Turkish military officials.

It was said that, “the air attack began at around 1 a.m. and lasted for more than three hours, targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) outposts in the Qandil mountain. It was also said that, Turkish ground troops launched long-range missiles at the PKK positions after the air attack.”

The military stated that, “all warplanes returned safely to their bases in Turkey.”

“The targets of the attack appeared to be PKK fighters in the border area, but there are reports of civilian casualties in nearby villages” explains Jamal Abdullah, spokesman for Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish regional Government.

A top Iraqi official said Turkish warplanes bombarded 10 Kurdish villages, killing one woman and injuring two others.

Tensions have been high along the Iraqi-Turkish border, with Turkey threatening to launch a full-scale cross-border offensive against separatist guerillas from the PKK.

Those militants have launched actions against Turkish troops from northern Iraq and have been fighting the Turkish government forces in southeastern Turkey, where violence has been steady.

The Turkish military government received approval from the parliament in October to take military action “at any time.” There are tens of thousands of Turkish troops near the border area.

The United States, the Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional government had pursued diplomatic efforts over the past two months to keep Turkey from launching an offensive against the PKK.

Though it’s not clearly stated what specific type of aircraft was used, the aircrafts that were shown resembled somewhat to an aircraft of the Fighting Falcons.