Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Iran confirms clashes with Turkish Kurd rebels

TEHRAN: Iran confirmed on Wednesday that its troops had been engaged in clashes with rebels from the former Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) near the border with Turkey, the student news agency ISNA reported.

Deputy Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi said the clashes took place on June 28, killing two Iranian soldiers and eight rebels from the group, now known as the Kongra-Gel. On Tuesday a pro-Kurdish news agency said 16 Iranian soldiers and four Turkish Kurd rebels were killed in fighting in a mountainous region along the Turkish border. Turkish security sources confirmed the clashes, saying they were part of a “large-scale” operation launched by the Iranian army. “There are at least 10 dead,” a Turkish official told AFP in Diyarbakir, the centre of Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-7-2004_pg4_11




20 dead in clashes between Iranian army, Turkish Kurd rebels: report

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 6 (AFP) - Sixteen Iranian soldiers and four Turkish Kurd rebels have been killed in clashes in a mountainous region along the Turkish border, a pro-Kurdish news agency reported Tuesday.

Turkish security sources confirmed the clashes, saying they were part of a "large-scale" operation that the Iranian army has launched against rebels from the former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on their territory.

"There are at least 10 dead," a Turkish official told AFP in Diyarbakir, the center of Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.The Germany-based MHA news agency, which is close to the rebels, reported that Iranian security forces had launched "a comprehensive operation" against the armed wing of the PKK last week. The first clashes occurred on Friday.

The Iranians used helicopters and heavy weapons, it said, adding that the operation was continuing.Iranian security forces also carried out raids -- apparently on PKK targets -- in the towns of Salmas and Khoy, near the Turkish border, MHA said.

The former PKK, now known as Kongra Gel, have long used the mountainous border regions of Iran and Iraq, which are difficult to guard, as a springboard for attacks on Turkish territory.

Most of the group's militants are believed to have taken refuge in northern Iraq after the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Ankara government in 1999.

The group ended its truce on June 1.The PKK has waged a 15-year war for self-rule in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, with the conflict claiming some 37,000 lives.

Turkey and Iran have in recent years intensified cooperation on security matters, including the PKK, after a chilly period during which the two sides accused each other of sheltering their respective dissidents.


http://www.iranmania.com/news/070704f.asp