Saturday, June 09, 2007

Iraq protests 'intensive shelling' by Turkey, says causes 'huge damage'; Villages being evacuated


Above: Turkish Army armored vehicles moved into place this month at the border with Iraq. Some reports say Turkish F-16s have conducted bombing raids.

Iraq accused Turkey of "intensively shelling" part of its northern Kurdish region this week and handed Ankara's envoy a protest letter on Saturday which warned such actions could harm relations...

An Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement said the Turkish shelling, over a three-hour period late on Wednesday and early Thursday, caused widespread damage and fires in the mountainous northern Kurdish provinces of Dahuk and Arbil.

"This attack caused wide fires and huge damage in the area and made citizens fearful," the ministry statement said, without specifically identifying the damage...

Jabar Yawir, deputy minister for Peshmerga Affairs in Kurdistan, said people were being evacuated from five villages because of the shelling. Officials were assessing the damage.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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