Several killed in Turkish 'anti-terror' strikes

Turkish airstrikes on positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq killed at least six people on Saturday, officials said.

A local official in the village of Zarkel in the Rawanduz area said two women were among six people killed in a pre-dawn raid, but did not say whether the other victims were members of the PKK.

The attacks on Kurdish rebel targets come as part of a two-pronged "anti-terror" offensive launched by Ankara last week that was said to be aimed at both "Islamic State" (IS) jihadists and PKK militants.

But so far the bombardments, which were started after a series of attacks in Turkey, have concentrated more on Kurdish rebels, who are leading the fight against "IS" in Syria and Iraq.

Turkey's official Anatolia news agency reported on Saturday that some 260 PKK rebels have been killed and 400 wounded since the raids began. This figure has not been confirmed by PKK sources, who say they have little or no contact with some areas targeted by the airstrikes and cannot fully assess the situation.

Anatolia said the heaviest airstrikes were on Thursday, with some 80 Turkish jets carrying out raids on more than 100 targets.

Shattered peace process

The PKK is outlawed in Turkey, and many of its militants have taken refuge in mountainous regions on the Iraqi side of the border. The group has been waging a more than 30-year insurgency for greater rights and powers for the Kurdish minority, which has left tens of thousands dead.

Before the Turkish campaign began last week, Turkey and the PKK had been involved in a tentative peace process that had resulted in a ceasefire in 2013, but the uneasy truce has now been shattered.

Turkey's allies, including Germany, have asked Ankara to return to peace negotiations to end the conflict.

Germany Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the daily "Bild" that the Turkish government "should not tear down the bridges to the Kurds that have been arduously built in the last few years."

On Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan said Ankara had called off the peace process with the Kurds, saying the PKK threatened "our national unity and brotherhood."

tj/bk (AFP, AP, dpa)