Saturday, July 25, 2015

Turkey bombs Kurds in Northern Iraq, told US on Friday it would bomb ISIS as well as the Kurds-Reuters

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On Friday, Turkey's Erdogan said he told U.S. President Obama that he would be attacking the Kurds in Northern Iraq. (end of article)

7/25/15, "Turkey hits Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq," Reuters, Ankara

Turkey launched its first-ever air attack against Islamic State targets in Syria early on Friday, promising more decisive action against both the jihadists and Kurdish militants

Fighter jets hit PKK targets in several locations in northern Iraq, including warehouses, "logistic points", living quarters and storage buildings, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office said.

The outlawed PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington, has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey for greater Kurdish autonomy....

Police also detained more than 300 suspected Islamic State and PKK members in a police crack down on Friday, Prime Minister Davutoglu said after vowing to fight all "terrorist groups" equally. 

Turkey's more active role comes after a suspected Islamic State suicide bomber killed 32 people, some of them Kurds, this week in the border town of Suruc. That touched off a wave of violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, with the PKK killing at least two police officers, calling it retaliation for the suicide bombing.

Many Kurds and opposition supporters have suspected Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party of covertly backing Islamic State against Kurdish fighters in Syria, something the government has repeatedly denied....

On Friday, Erdogan said he had told U.S. President Barack Obama that the PKK, which he calls a separatist organization, would be a focus for attacks."


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