Print version Email to a friend

Iraq summons Turkish envoy over raids

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:59 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Iraq demands end to Turkish air strikes

* Two Turkish soldiers injured in blast in south (Updates Iraqi summons to Turkey envoy)

By Patrick Markey

BAGHDAD, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Iraq has summoned Turkey's ambassador to demand an immediate halt to air strikes on its northern border in its strongest condemnation of a week-long military operation, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday.

Turkey last week began a series of attacks on suspected Kurdish PKK rebel hideouts in northern Iraq where guerrillas have sought refuge after carrying out assaults on Turkish forces in a nearly three-decade-old conflict.

Iraqi authorities said one Turkish air strike killed seven Iraqi civilians on Sunday, sparking protests in several towns in the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region that borders Turkey, Iran and Syria.

"Yesterday the Turkish ambassador was summoned here to the foreign ministry. He was handed a protest, a diplomatic note about the continued bombing," Zebari told Reuters in an interview. "We demanded an immediate stop to these air strikes."

Zebari spoke after two Turkish soldiers were wounded when an explosion hit their minibus in Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. The soldiers were travelling in a civilian bus.

The bloodshed on Iraq's northern border is escalating just as Iraqi and U.S. officials discuss whether U.S. troops should stay in Iraq as trainers after a deadline for American soldiers to leave the country expires at the end of this year.

Many Kurdish leaders say they want a continued U.S. presence as a buffer against interventions from neighbouring countries.

The Turkish military said on Tuesday it had killed up to 100 Kurdish separatist rebels in six days of air strikes in response to an escalation of guerrilla assaults after the collapse of efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, dismissed the Turkish figures. PKK attacks have killed more than 40 security personnel in the past month.

Both Iraq's central government and the regional Kurdish government had condemned the attacks by Turkey and shelling by Iran, which have forced hundreds of Iraqi Kurdish villagers to abandon their homes for small refugee camps since mid July.

Turkey has in the past hit suspected PKK targets inside Iraqi territory. Neighbouring Iran has also often shelled Iraqi territory to target bases of the PKK Iranian offshoot, the PJAK.

A joint U.S.-Turkish-Iraqi commission now works to resolve border incidents.

Turkey has become one of the largest investors in Iraq as Baghdad seeks to rebuild the country's economy after years of war and sanctions. Iraqi Kurdistan is a safe haven, suffering little of the violence that still afflicts the rest of Iraq. (Additional reporting by Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir, Turkey; Editing by Mark Heinrich)