 The army has stepped up an offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq after severe weather conditions that had earlier hampered troop movement improved on the sixth day of the ground offensive.
Troops have killed 77 PKK terrorists in the most intense fighting of the ground incursion in northern Iraq, bringing the number of PKK casualties since the beginning of the operation to 230, the military said on Wednesday. Five soldiers were also killed in all-night clashes, bringing the number of slain soldiers to 24. Three government-paid village guards have also been slain in clashes since the start of the operation. Troops were still in close combat with PKK terrorists in certain areas, and some of these PKK members in the combat zone are believed to be senior leaders of the group, the military also said. In past operations, the military has monitored radio communications of the PKK terrorists. Warplanes and long-range artillery units targeted PKK targets in mountainous northern Iraq, hitting 225 targets, including anti-aircraft batteries, caves, shelters, training facilities, and command and communications centers. Artillery units struck 475 similar targets.
"There are sporadic clashes with terrorists who arrived as reinforcements to the region in two separate areas on the sixth day of the operation," the military said on its Web site.
Photos distributed yesterday by the military showed troops advancing in the snow-covered mountains in northern Iraq and a Sikorksy helicopter bringing in reinforcements to the area of operations. More reinforcements were sent to the combat zone as the weather improved, the military said. On the Turkish side of the border, more than 40 military trucks were seen ferrying hundreds of commandos toward the Iraqi border in better weather. F-16 warplanes were seen flying over the border town of Çukurca toward Iraq, while helicopters brought dozens of troops to a base on the outskirts of the town. Some helicopters also headed toward Iraq.
Sources said some terrorists tried to flee to the Turkish side of the border near the Bestler-Dereler region in the southeastern province of Şırnak. Clashes ensued overnight after the group was detected by troops deployed on the Turkish side of the border. Clashes continued until the morning hours, and the group fled back to Iraq. Warplanes taking off from a military base in Diyarbakır dropped bombs over the fleeing terrorists inside northern Iraq.
The army is advancing inside northern Iraq and destroying natural or man-made facilities used by the PKK for logistics purposes or for infiltration into Turkish territory. The military and the government have made clear that civilian infrastructure is never targeted and that the operation is aimed solely at the PKK.
In its earlier statements, the military said the PKK terrorists were fleeing south after their bases in the north are hit by Turkish forces, and it asked Iraqi Kurdish forces in charge of security in the region to prevent them from hiding in the Kurdish-run areas.
On Tuesday, it said it had received information that some wounded terrorists were being treated in hospitals in northern Iraq. Turkey has long suspected the Iraqi Kurd administration in the north of allowing the PKK to operate and ignoring calls for a crackdown on the group.
The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, on the other hand, denied accusations by the Turkish military that wounded PKK members were being treated in hospitals in the semiautonomous area.
We challenge anyone who says that wounded PKK fighters are receiving treatment in our hospitals, spokesman Jamal Abdullah said. We have nothing to do with PKK fighters, and routes to areas where clashes are taking place are closed.
HEYET Net- Todays Zaman
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