SULAIMANIYAH: Turkish warplanes on Monday bombarded three abandoned settlements in an area of northern Iraq known as a refuge for rebel Kurds, rebel and Iraqi military officials said.
“Turkish planes bombed the unihabited hamlets of Khorakouk, Khnira and Loulan in the Qandil Mountains near the Turkish border between 3.00 and 6.00 am today,” said Ahmed Dinis, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). No-one was hurt, he added. Dinis would not say whether any guerrillas were in the area when the jets struck.
The Qandil Mountains lie on the three-way border between Iraq, Iran and Turkey and are known as a stronghold of the PKK, which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey. An Iraqi military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the report by Dinis to reporters in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. Turkey has carried out several air strikes in northern Iraq since December, some using intelligence supplied by the US forces in the country, and has vowed to defeat what it says are 4,000 rebels using Qandil as a rearbase.
US-Iraq pact: The Iraqi government will begin talks with US officials later in February on a pact that would lay the basis for long-term strategic ties between Washington and Baghdad, an Iraqi official said on Monday.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s two vice presidents and the leaders of major political blocs had met on Sunday to discuss the pact. Dabbagh said the talks with US officials would begin in the third week of February but did not give a date. “This agreement will bring economic, security, political, diplomatic benefits to Iraq and set up a sympathetic relationship with the American people,” he said. agencies
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\02\05\story_5-2-2008_pg4_5
“Turkish planes bombed the unihabited hamlets of Khorakouk, Khnira and Loulan in the Qandil Mountains near the Turkish border between 3.00 and 6.00 am today,” said Ahmed Dinis, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). No-one was hurt, he added. Dinis would not say whether any guerrillas were in the area when the jets struck.
The Qandil Mountains lie on the three-way border between Iraq, Iran and Turkey and are known as a stronghold of the PKK, which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey. An Iraqi military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the report by Dinis to reporters in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. Turkey has carried out several air strikes in northern Iraq since December, some using intelligence supplied by the US forces in the country, and has vowed to defeat what it says are 4,000 rebels using Qandil as a rearbase.
US-Iraq pact: The Iraqi government will begin talks with US officials later in February on a pact that would lay the basis for long-term strategic ties between Washington and Baghdad, an Iraqi official said on Monday.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s two vice presidents and the leaders of major political blocs had met on Sunday to discuss the pact. Dabbagh said the talks with US officials would begin in the third week of February but did not give a date. “This agreement will bring economic, security, political, diplomatic benefits to Iraq and set up a sympathetic relationship with the American people,” he said. agencies
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\02\05\story_5-2-2008_pg4_5
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