Turkish jets bomb Kurdish PKK rebels near Iraq


An F-4 Phantom jet: Turkey says the bombing was a response to a PKK attack on a military outpost

Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes have bombed Kurdish PKK rebel targets in Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, Turkish media report.

It is the first significant air raid on the PKK since the rebel group declared a ceasefire in March 2013.

Hurriyet daily said the air raids near the south-eastern village of Daglica on Monday caused "heavy casualties".

Kurds are angry at Turkey's refusal to help defend the Syrian border town of Kobane from Islamic State militants.

The Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Milliyet have also reported clashes on Monday between the PKK and troops in the Tunceli area of east-central Turkey, far from the border.

The Turkish military said the Daglica air strikes were a response to sustained Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) shelling of a military outpost in the area.

The PKK had attacked the outpost for three days with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers, Hurriyet reported.

Last week Kurdish protests gripped Turkey's Kurdish-majority south-eastern provinces. At least 31 people died in widespread street clashes, as Kurds vented their anger at Turkey's passive policy over Kobane.

The army imposed a curfew in some areas. But some of the fighting was reported to be between PKK supporters and Islamist Kurds sympathetic to IS.

Inside Syria heavy fighting has been raging in Kobane since mid-September, as Syrian Kurds battle to defend the town against better-armed IS militants.

Turkey treats the PKK as a "terrorist" organisation and its leader Abdullah Ocalan is in jail. But he has been Turkey's main point of contact in peace negotiations since he was incarcerated in 2012.

The PKK - also labelled "terrorist" by Western governments - has been waging a 30-year insurgency for self-rule in eastern Turkey. The unrest has killed more than 40,000 people.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29611582