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Iran shells Kurd positions in Iraq: Kurd official
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iranian forces shelled Iranian Kurdish rebel positions inside mountainous northern Iraq early on Friday to repel an attack, an Iraqi Kurdish official said. "This morning Iranian Kurdish fighters infiltrated the border into the Iranian side and the Iranian army bombed the area and repelled them. The shelling hit Iraqi land at Sidakan," said Saadi Pira, an official in Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party.

There was no word on casualties in the shelling of the rebels of the Iranian Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). Sidakan is about 80 km (50 miles) north of the northern Iraqi city of Arbil and about 10 km (6 miles) from the Iranian border.
10 meters inside Iraq could be a mistake. 10 kilometers is a deliberate attack
News of the incident could fuel tensions in Iraq, where Sunni Arab leaders accuse Shi'ite Iran of meddling in the country's internal affairs. There was no word on the shelling from Iraq's Defense Ministry.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have previously clashed with PJAK separatists in Iran's restive western borderlands. Security experts say PJAK is an Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose separatist struggle regained momentum in southeastern Turkey after it called off a unilateral ceasefire in the summer of 2004. Turkey has long been concerned about PKK rebel bases in northern Iraq, which it frequently attacked before the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. Dozens of guerrillas and members of Turkey's security forces have been killed in fighting in recent months, and a group linked to the PKK has claimed several bomb attacks in Istanbul.

Ankara, which has up to 250,000 troops in southeastern Turkey, has sent an extra 40,000 soldiers to the area to prepare for an expected rise in PKK incursions from northern Iraq, a senior Turkish military official said on Thursday. Turkey's Daily Aksam said on Friday 50,000 troops were massed at the borders with Iran and Iraq and that the army planned to extend its fight against PKK beyond Turkey's border. Iraqi Kurdish officials said they were concerned over the reports that Turkey was deploying troops for possible attacks on PKK rebels in northern Iraq.

But Western diplomats in Ankara said they were not aware of specific plans by the army to fight the PKK in Iraq. The United States has made clear its opposition to any such cross-border action. Ankara is pressing the Americans to flush out the PKK. Turkey has long been concerned about the regional autonomy enjoyed by Iraqi Kurds, fearing it might encourage similar aspirations among its own Kurdish population.
Posted by: Steve 2006-04-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=149307