(29 Oct 2007) SHOTLIST
++NIGHT SHOTS++
Cizre
1. Pan of armoured police vehicle
2. Various of military supply arriving at Cizre
Sirnak Province
3. Various of Cobra and Super Cobra Helicopters firing at suspected PKK positions on Mount Cudi
4. Helicopter flying overhead
STORYLINE
Turkish Cobra attack helicopters fired rockets into suspected Kurdish rebel positions in mountains near the Iraq border on Monday, one of several clashes as government forces kept up the pressure on rebels.
On Monday, three Cobra attack helicopters fired on suspected rebel positions on Mount Cudi, in Sirnak province.
Later in the evening, AP Television filmed streaks from red tracer bullets crossing through the sky.
After the attack, military transport helicopters flew toward the area, apparently ferrying commandos to the fight.
AP Television also saw a convoy of some 40 military trucks approaching in the evening. It was not possible to confirm whether they were bringing in more troops.
One Turkish soldier was killed in the fighting, the private Dogan news agency reported without citing its sources.
To the east of Mount Cudi in neighbouring Hakkari province, government troops trapped a group of about 100 separatist Kurdish rebels after blocking all escape routes across the
frontier, state-run news agency Anatolia reported.
The troops - who have been shelling mountain passages used by the rebels to escape to bases in Iraq - trapped the group of rebels in the Ikiyaka mountains, forcing them to
hide in caves, Anatolia reported.
But a Kurdish rebel spokesman told the AP that the report was "baseless."
"There was no fighting in this area between the PKK and the Turkish army," Abdul-Rahman al-Chaderchi said by telephone. "Such allegations are part of the Turkish propaganda against the PKK."
To the northwest, away from the border, a Turkish soldier was killed in Tunceli province after stepping on a land mine believed to have been planted by the rebels, officials said.
The soldier was part of an operation that began Sunday, in which some 8,000 troops have been scouring a central area of the province in ground and helicopter patrols for PKK
guerrillas, the private Dogan news agency reported.
Seventeen rebels have been killed in the operation _ 15 on Sunday and two on Monday, Dogan reported.
Another clash erupted between PKK rebels and Turkish troops near the town of Genc in the neighbouring Bingol province but no casualties were reported, according to the
Anatolia news agency.
PKK fighters have killed at least 44 people in the past month, according to government and media reports. Those casualties include about 30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes that were the boldest attacks in years - increasing domestic pressure on Turkey's prime minister to act.
Turkey has demanded the extradition of PKK leaders, and has threatened otherwise to stage a cross-border military offensive in Iraq to hunt down the rebels itself.
Talks on Friday in Ankara between Turkish and Iraqi officials ended unsuccessfully after Turkey said that the Iraqi government's proposals were too long-term and that immediate action was needed.
But in Baghdad on Monday, Barham Saleh, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Kurdish deputy, said that the proposals to resolve the crisis were "still on the table" and warned that any unilateral Turkish military action would violate Iraq's sovereignty and threaten stability in both countries.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
