Turkey pounds Kurdish bases

ANKARA: Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq on Monday, a day after a suicide car bomb tore through downtown Ankara killing at least 36 people, the third attack on the capital in five months.

Turkish fighter bombers hit arms depots and PKK shelters in mountainous northern Iraq, the army said, quoted by the staterun Anatolia news agency.

The strikes came as the government announced three more deaths overnight from Sunday’s huge explosion at a bus stop near a busy square in central Ankara.

The military said the PKK targets were hit “with precision”, with a rebel spokesman confirming the strikes and saying that so far, there was no clear picture of the damage caused.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding an independent state for Kurds. Since then the group has narrowed its demands to greater rights and autonomy.

ERDOGAN REACTS

President Rece p Tayyip Erdogan vowed to defeat terrorists who have staged a series of attacks on Turkey in the past 18 months.

“These attacks, which threaten our country’s integrity and our nation’s unity and solidarity, do not weaken our resolve in fighting terrorism but bolster our determination,” he said in a statement.

“Our people should not worry, the struggle against terrorism will for certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees.”