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Turkish army reportedly kills 13 rebels in north Iraq

February 13, 2009

Turkish soldiers return from a mission near the Iraqi border

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish armed forces killed 13 Kurdish PKK rebels during an air strike last week in northern Iraq, the state-run news agency Anatolian has reported.

The air strike also badly damaged a PKK operations and logistics base, according to Anatolian.

Kurdish separatist fighters use northern Iraq's autonomous northern region as a base to launch attacks on targets in southeastern Turkey, and Turkish forces have frequently retaliated with air and artillery strikes.

In early 2008, Turkey sent thousands of troops across the border in an attempt to flush out the PKK guerrillas and end their cross-border attacks.

Ankara, like the European Union and United States, calls the PKK a terrorist organization.

Around 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 1984, when the PKK took up arms with a view to establishing an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey.

Topics: Militias, Kurd, Military operations,