ANKARA/SULAIMANIYA, Dec 26: Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish guerilla targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday, Turkey’s general staff said, in their fourth such cross-border raid in five days.

The Turkish military said its offensive against outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerillas inside Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq would continue.

“Fighter jets belonging to the Turkish armed forces successfully hit targets belonging to the terrorist organisation in the early hours of Dec 26,” the General Staff said in a statement, adding eight PKK hideouts in the Zap valley were hit.

Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for Peshmerga security forces of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, said the strike lasted about an hour in a mountainous border region of Dahuk province but inflicted no casualties.

The cross-border raids are a reminder that while violence in Iraq has dropped by 60 per cent since June, security is fragile and Iraq still faces threats both from within and without.

Turkey says it has the right under international law to hit rebels who take shelter in northern Iraq and mount attacks in which they have killed dozens of Turkish troops in recent months.

Turkish aircraft also struck targets across northern Iraq on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, the latest salvoes in a campaign that began with a larger bombing raid on Dec 16. Up to several hundred ground troops as well as long-range artillery have also been involved in the brief cross-border raids.

Hundreds of civilians have fled Iraqi villages in the border area and Iraqi Kurdish officials have said civilians were killed. Turkey has denied this.

PKK TARGETS: Turkey says its raids are solely aimed at PKK guerillas.

The Turkish military said more than 150 PKK guerillas were killed in the Dec. 16 air strikes across northern Iraq. The strikes took out PKK command centres, training and logistics camps and more than 180 living quarters, the military said.

Iraqi Kurdish officials say the attacks targeted abandoned villages near the Turkish border and deserted mountain areas.

The PKK has denied its infrastructure was destroyed or members killed. Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by warplanes, artillery and tanks, near its mountainous border with Iraq.

Turkey’s government authorised the military last month to launch cross-border operations following what it said were insufficient steps by Iraqi authorities against the PKK.

The Iraqi government and US forces say they support Turkey’s right to strike at the PKK but want any action to be coordinated with them and small in scale to avoid destabilising northern Iraq.

The United States has begun providing Turkey with intelligence on the PKK in northern Iraq after coming under pressure from Ankara for failing to crack down on the rebels.

“The United States and we are both happy with our cooperation (regarding intelligence sharing),” Turkish President Abdullah Gul was quoted by Turkish television as saying.

Analysts say a major Turkish land incursion is very unlikely now, since many Kurdish rebels have moved into neighbouring countries and weather conditions in northern Iraq are worsening.—Reuters