Eleven Iraqis wounded in bomb attacks on Kurdish targets in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil will be flown to hospitals in Ankara for treatment on Friday, the Turkish foreign ministry said. Turkey offered help after the bombings on Sunday killed at least 105 people at the offices of the two main Kurdish factions -- the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) -- which have traditionally had strained relations with Turkish authorities. "The PUK leadership, which responded to (Turkish) Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's offer... yesterday, asked for 11 Iraqi citizens to be sent to Turkey and treated," a ministry statement said. The Iraqis, most of them badly injured, would be brought to Ankara "this afternoon," it added. Iraqi authorities would transport them to the Habur border crossing between the two countries, from where they would travel to the city of Mardin in eastern Turkey, then on a special flight to Ankara.
| This is a good move on the Turks' part. |
|