WRAP Military activity along Iraqi border
(26 Dec 2007) Cizre 1. Various of border point 2. Sky, zoom in to plane and vapour trail 3. Pan of plane 4. Ground troops 5. Wide of buildings on hill 6. Wide of tank 7. Various of military vehicles with mounted gun driving on rough road 8. Wide of military post 9. Watchtower Cizre 10. Helicopter flying overhead, pull-out to Turkish troops mine-sweeping 11. Mine-sweeping operation 12. Various of wheels of armoured truck 13. Various, army patrol spread out along road with armoured truck 14. Various, helicopter flying, mountains behind Diyarbakir 15. Various of airbase 16. F16 plane taxiing 17. Various, F16s on runway STORYLINE Turkish warplanes hit eight suspected Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the third cross-border air assault in 10 days, Turkey's military said. Within Turkey's borders, troops conducting an operation begun a day before said they had killed six Kurdish rebels on Wednesday, raising the two-day rebel death toll to 11. Two other rebels were captured, the military said. The warplanes struck in an "effective pinpoint operation" targeting eight caves and other hideouts used by rebels of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), the military said in a statement posted on its web site. The military launched the operation after spotting a group of rebels preparing to spend the winter in hideouts in the Zap border region, it said. The statement also said that the military was determined to continue its operations against the rebels. AP Television pictures filmed on Wednesday morning showed Turkish troops near Cizre in Sirnak Province, south-eastern Turkey. The airstrikes pushed up the price of oil in New York, where the news coincided with figures suggesting that domestic stocks had fallen. Oil traders are concerned that Kurdish rebels could cut oil supplies from Iraq in retaliation for Turkish strikes. Wednesday's strikes were the third confirmed aerial operation against the rebels since 16 December, 2007. Separately on Tuesday, Turkish troops backed by helicopter gunships began an operation to chase rebels in a province inside Turkey near the Iraqi border. Turkey's military claimed on Tuesday that more than 200 Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq have been hit since December 16, killing hundreds of rebels, but a pro-Kurdish news agency said the PKK lost only five members. Other hideouts and anti-aircraft weapons were hit in a cross-border air assault on 22 December, 2007, followed by artillery fire from within Turkey, the military said. Iraqi officials have said the 16 December operation - the first confirmed by Turkey since the US-led invasion in 2003 - violated Iraqi sovereignty and killed civilians. Massoud Barzani, Kurdish regional president in northern Iraq, said on Monday civilians have been killed in Turkish attacks, which he called unacceptable. A Turkish government spokesman, said allegations that civilians were killed in Turkish raids were inaccurate. Tens of thousands of people have died in the PKK's separatist struggle in parts of Turkey near Syria, Iraq and Iran since 1984. The US, the European Union and Turkey consider the PKK a "terror organisation". The US has been providing intelligence to Turkey on the Kurdish rebels since meeting in November between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George W. Bush, who said the rebel group was an enemy of the US, Turkey and Iraq. A coordination centre has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information. In October, the parliament allowed the government to send troops into Iraq to hit rebel bases there. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
