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| Iraq |
| US troops ’clash’ with PKK rebels |
| 2003-11-10 |
| American troops have clashed with Turkish Kurd rebels based in northern Iraq, the Turkish authorities say. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the clashes between US forces and PKK rebels took place on Sunday. His comments followed Turkish media reports that an Iraqi Kurd was killed when PKK rebels fired on US troops and Iraqi Kurdish fighters. The US-led coalition press office in Baghdad confirmed there had been an incident, but gave no details. "I can say no more." Mr Gul, speaking to reporters in Ankara before leaving for a visit to Rome, said there were clashes involving US troops, Iraqi Kurdish fighters and the PKK. He said some US helicopters were also sent.Last month, Sunday’s are the first known clashes between US forces and PKK rebels. Turkey and the US agreed on an action plan to eradicate the PKK, which is thought to have around 5,000 members living in northern Iraq. Details of the plan have not been released, but a US official said at the time that any military action would be carried out by US troops. Happy, Murat? |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 More details: A KURDISH fighter working for the Iraqi border guard was killed and 13 others wounded at the weekend in a clash with gunmen near the Turkish border, a US army spokeswoman said today. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul identified the gunmen as members of the Turkish Kurdish rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, also known as KADEK), but the US army said it was not clear who the attackers were. "Iraqi Border Patrol members on patrol in northern Iraq came under attack from unknown forces November 8 near Dohuk," the military spokeswoman said from the northern city of Mosul. "One Iraqi border patrol guard was killed and 13 others were injured." US forces called in Apache helicopter gunships, which opened fire on the gunmen, who then fled, she added. The dead border guard was identified in the Turkish press as belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani, one of the two main Kurdish groups controlling northern Iraq. So the only one saying that the PKK was involved is Turkish FM Gul. Just how does he know who is involved, anyway? Maybe it was, but why would they shoot up a Kurdish Iraqi border patrol? Hell, it could be a Turkish SF patrol posing as the PKK. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-11-10 2:30:21 PM |
| #7 Actually, I do. AQ boomers are free to blow up anything they like in Afghanistan, and the Afghan troops are free to do anything they like to AQ. In Afghanistan. They go anywhere else, they get popped catch-as-catch-can. It's called "self-determination". |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-11-10 2:12:47 PM |
| #6 I think we should just tell the PKK we have no problem with them, as long as they only kill Turkish civilians. That's Murat's standard, so it's mine too. |
| Posted by: BMN 2003-11-10 12:37:49 PM |
| #5 This may be a naive question, but how is it in the best interest of the PKK to attack us? |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-11-10 12:31:34 PM |
| #4 Do you apply the same standards on the Al Qaeda Mojo? As long as they don't leave Afghanistan, they are not terrorists? Whether they keep carrying weapons and continue their terrorist training in camps is of no matter, right! I guess with your logic the US wasted valuable fuell by dispatching few apache helicopters to the area while no American soldiers where hit, just a few peshmerga wounded by some PKK border tourists. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-11-10 11:07:52 AM |
| #3 If we killed 'em all, Murat would complain about the smell... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2003-11-10 11:07:01 AM |
| #2 As long as they're in Iraq and don't start shootin' they're just Kurds, Murat. They become terrorists when they cross the northern border. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-11-10 10:56:13 AM |
| #1 I heard about it yes, but happy I am not because the incident seems to be coincidence in which the Iraqi/US joint patrol ran into a group of PKK terrorists who tried to cross the Iraqi Turkish border and not a planned action to eradicate the PKK terrorists. So I have no reason to believe in a sincere fight against terror by the US. Maybe things change when the PKK shoots a few US soldiers, I guess one of the reasons the US do not attack the PKK is because they posses stinger manpads handed out by the US itself. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-11-10 10:08:44 AM |