Turkey's army: 10 Kurdish rebels surrender as rebel camps attacked
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Turkey's military said Friday that 10 Kurdish rebels have surrendered after Turkish warplanes bombed camps in northern Iraq.
Turkish jets last struck rebel positions in northern Iraq on Tuesday in the fourth cross-border aerial attack since Dec. 16. The military has also targeted camps near the border but inside Turkey.
Ten Kurdish rebels, who reportedly fled rebel camps in northern Iraq, turned themselves into authorities on Thursday in the Turkish town of Silopi near the Iraqi border, the military said in a statement posted on its Web site. A total of 21 rebels have surrendered over the past month, it said.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has battled for autonomy in southeastern Turkey for more than two decades - a campaign that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. It uses strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border strikes into Turkey.
In October, the Turkish parliament authorized the military to strike at the rebels across the border.