Turkey Strikes PKK Targets in Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's military says it has carried out aerial raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in a new cross-border offensive in northern Iraq.

A brief military statement Wednesday said the raids "destroyed" targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in four areas of northern Iraq, including the Qandil mountains on the Iraq-Iran border where the PKK's leadership is based. The military did not provide further details.

Turkish jets have frequently bombed PKK sites in northern Iraq. Wednesday's strikes were the first since tensions erupted Saturday with Iraq over the Turkish deployment of additional troops for a training mission near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Turkey halted the additional deployment following Iraqi protests.

Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim told reporters that Baghdad and Ankara are working to solve the dispute.

(KA)