SULAYMANIYA, Iraq -- Turkey unleashed air and artillery strikes against Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq yesterday, officials here said, five days after the Turks completed a major ground offensive in the mountainous border region.
Turkey declared at the time that it had achieved its goal of denying the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a free hand to attack its territory from sanctuaries in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. But U.S. and Turkish military analysts were skeptical that the operation would have more than a temporary effect.
Yesterday, Turkish warplanes crossed about 15 miles inside Iraq to bomb targets in the Dashti Barzji area, north of the city of Dahuk, said Capt. Mohammed Ali, a member of the Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq. Artillery strikes were reported around Amadiya in the same area, he said. The attacks took place in a sparsely populated region and caused no civilian casualties, Ali said.
Ahmed Denis, a PKK spokesman, confirmed that the attack occurred and that the group has a presence in the area, but said he had received no reports of damage or casualties. He said the rebel group expected further attacks.
"The [Kurdistan] Workers Party believes that the [Turkish] withdrawal wasn't permanent but, rather, temporary," Denis said.
Turkey did not immediately confirm yesterday's attacks.
Domestic critics had accused Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan of bowing to pressure from the United States to wrap up the ground offensive as quickly as possible, charges denied by the Turkish government. The eight-day incursion placed the United States in an awkward position as it attempted to juggle the interests of two allies.
The U.S. regards the PKK as a terrorist group and has supplied Turkey with intelligence about the rebels' operations in Iraq. But U.S. officials don't want to upset stability in the Kurdish north, which has escaped much of the violence affecting the rest of Iraq.
Iraqi officials reacted angrily to the incursion, which they called a violation of sovereignty, and said there were other ways to deal with the PKK. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, is expected to visit Turkey tomorrow.
Asso Ahmed and Alexandra Zavis write for the Los Angeles Times.