Turkish Helicopters Strike Kurd...

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Turkish Helicopters Strike Kurd...

/* Written  5:15 pm  Jan 18, 1993 by sehari at iastate.edu in
igc:soc.culture.ir */

 TURKISH HELICOPTERS STRIKE KURD CAMP, KILL 35
 (Eds: clarifies attack by helicopters, not planes)
    ANKARA, Jan 14, Reuter - Turkish military helicopters attacked
a Kurdish rebel camp in the mountains of eastern Turkey on
Thursday, killing at least 35 guerrillas, the Anatolian news
agency said.
    A senior security official confirmed the raid but said the
    exact number of PKK casualties was not available.
    ``There are other operations going on in the region,'' he told
Reuters by telephone from Diyarbakir city.
    About 300 rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
were based in the camp on Serik Hill in Bingol province, the
semi-official Anatolian agency said.
    Troops had recovered 35 bodies so far, it said.  Six Cobra and
    Sikorsky helicopter gunships took part in the strike, local
journalists said.
    Mountain commandos and special police teams backed the air
operation but were hampered by deep snow.
    The agency quoted security sources as saying the rebels were
believed to have crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq.
    The PKK group was the largest reported inside Turkey since a
four-week cross-border operation in northern Iraq by Turkish
troops aimed at securing the 330-km (210-mile) frontier against
separatist infiltrators.
    That operation, in October, was backed by Iraqi Kurdish
guerrillas. The Turks gave the number of PKK losses including
wounded and surrendered guerrillas, at 2,000. The guerrillas said
they they lost 150 men.
    The government has said an internal crackdown on the rebels
would follow the cross-border operation.
    Security officials in the region say tracking PKK groups in
the rugged terrain is hampered by heavy snows but report many
detentions in towns and cities where the PKK has established a
popular support base.
    About 5,300 people have been killed in Turkey in the PKK's
nine-year-old struggle for an independent Kurdish state.
 REUTER SY AS AM

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