Five members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed when Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebels in Iraq's northern region on Sunday, Kurdish sources told Xinhua.

 

The sources said the 5 PKK militants were killed when Turkish warplanes launched strikes on PKK targets in Zap, Avashin, Xakurk regions and Qandil Mountain.

 

Following Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq, many Kurdish villagers from Qandil Mountain areas evacuated to Sangasar district, said local Kurdish sources.

 

"So far 140 families were evacuated to Sangasar sub-district and the number is going to increase. The International Red Cross staff visited the displaced people to evaluate the situation."

 

Meanwhile, An Iraqi Kurdish woman was killed and six others were wounded when Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebels in Iraq's northern region on Sunday, a security source from Iraq's Kurdish regional government (KRG) said.

 

"According to our reports, the Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on some villages near the border in the Qandil mountains at about 3:00 a.m. local time (GMT 2400 Saturday), killing a woman and wounding six people," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 

The attacks also damaged several houses and killed some 170 livestocks, the source said.

 

Earlier in the day, a statement issued by the Turkish General Staff posted on its Web site said the Turkish warplanes bombed the PKK targets in northern Iraq.

 

It said the warplanes hit PKK targets in regions bordering the Turkish territories as well as in Qandil Mountain, which is further away from the frontier.

 

The military operation was also backed by Turkish Land Forces' long-range weapons, it added.

 

The Turkish military has launched several cross-border attacks recently in a bid to fight separatist PKK rebels, who use northern Iraq as a launch pad for attacks against Turkey.

 

Security operations are underway in southeastern and eastern Turkey as 100,000 Turkish troops have massed along Turkish-Iraqi borders in preparations for possible cross-border operations to crush about 3,000-strong PKK rebels.

 

The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2007)