Turks Shelled Iraq Border, Kurds Say
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Turkish troops shelled a border area in northern Iraq early yesterday in an attack on Kurdish rebels based there, an Iraqi Kurdish leader said.
The leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, said there was shelling by Turkish troops on Kurdish areas but no incursion.
“We reject any interference in Iraqi affairs and we do not accept any presence of Turkish forces on Iraqi lands. There was shelling by the Turkish troops on Kurdish areas. The Turkish army did not enter Iraqi territory yet but if they did, we would consult the Iraqi government and deal with it as an Iraqi issue,” Mr. Barzani said at a news conference after meeting with fellow Kurdish leader and Iraq’s President Talabani.
Earlier yesterday, the Belgium-based Firat news agency, citing the rebel group PKK, said Turkish artillery targeted the Hakurk area in northern Iraq and that no casualties were reported. Firat did not name its source in the rebel movement.
Kurdish guerrillas have long had camps in the Hakurk area, nine miles from the Turkish border.
Turkish troops have occasionally launched brief raids in pursuit of guerrillas in northern Iraq, and have sometimes shelled suspected rebel positions across the border. Turkish authorities rarely acknowledge such operations.
