Turkey 'bombs Kurdish rebels in Iraq'

Turkish warplanes bombed areas of northern Iraq early Saturday in a bid to target rear bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) , a spokesman for the rebel group said. "Four warplanes bombed the villages of Silliyeh and Sargal at 1.30 am (2230 GMT Friday)," Haval Roz told AFP, adding that the bombings lasted for around 20 minutes. "There were no casualties, but the bombings caused damage to the houses of residents of the villages, and also damaged some farms," he said, noting that cattle and hens were killed. The villages bombed lie around 115 kilometres (70 miles) north of Sulaimaniyah, the second biggest city in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region. The PKK took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.