Turkey in new air strikes against PKK in Iraq

Turkish fighter jets carried out a new barrage of air strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq overnight, the army said on Wednesday.

And police officer was killed by snipers in Turkey's restive Kurdish-dominated southeast on Wednesday, local security sources said. 

The air bombardments "destroyed" targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in several northern Iraqi regions including its main stronghold on Qandil mountain, the army said in a statement.

Dahmat Agit, a PKK spokesman in Iraq, said the strikes started late on Tuesday at around 11:00 pm (2000 GMT).
"They lasted about an hour and targeted three villages," he said, adding that no PKK members were killed in the raid.

A local Kurdish official also said the strikes had caused no casualties but he reported serious damage to water and electricity infrastructure and crops.

Separately, a policeman was killed by sniper fire as he tried to defuse an explosive device in the Sur district of Diyarbakir province, which has been under military curfew for eight days.

Turkey has been waging a relentless offensive against PKK strongholds in the southeast of the country and in northern Iraq following the collapse in July of a two-year truce with rebels.  

In response the PKK -- blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community -- has hit back hard, killing dozens of police and soldiers in almost daily bomb and gun attacks.

The violence has destroyed hopes of fresh talks to end a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.

Sorce: AFP