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Turkey bombs Kurdish rebels in Iraq

  • Story Highlights
  • Operation is latest of Turkish military attacks on Kurdish rebels in Iraq
  • No reports of injuries, says Kurdistan Workers' Party official
  • U.S. considers PKK to be foreign terrorist organization
  • Rebels fighting for independent homeland in southeast Turkey
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From Mohammed Tawfeeq and and Talia Kayali
CNN
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(CNN) -- Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq overnight, Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government said Friday.

The operation is the latest of several Turkish military attacks in Iraq on rebels with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The Turkish military said its warplanes embarked Thursday night on an operation targeting the PKK over the Qandil Mountains.

"Our air force has operated with all necessary sensitivity to not negatively effect the civilian population and ground structures," the military said in a statement.

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A PKK official said planes bombed Kurdish rebel bases in an overnight operation in the Qandil region near the Iraq-Iran border.

The official said that Turkish warplanes started bombing the area around 11 p.m. Thursday local time and that the bombardment lasted for three hours. There were no casualties among PKK members, the official said.

The PKK is a leftist insurgent group that formed in 1974 to fight for an independent Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey. The U.S. government considers the PKK to be a foreign terrorist organization.

The group also has advocated a greater Kurdish homeland that would encompass parts of several countries, including Turkey and Iraq.

The organization waged a guerilla war that killed about 35,000 people and has more recently claimed to fight for greater rights for Kurds who live in Turkey, according to the U.S. government. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

All About TurkeyKurdistan Workers' PartyIraq

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