SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (Thomson Financial) - Turkish planes bombed suspected rebel bases in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing one woman, damaging infrastructure and forcing villagers to flee, local officials said.
Turkey's general staff said its warplanes had hit the 'regions of Zap, Hakurk and Avasin as well as the Qandil mountains' -- known to harbour rear bases of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The Turkish military said the bombardment began at 1:00 am (2300 GMT) and all its aircraft had returned safely to base by 4:15 am. Artillery continued to pound the targets once the planes left.
In Ankara, Turkish army chief Yasar Buyukanit was quoted as telling the private television channel Kanal D that the US backed the air raids with intelligence and clearance to enter Iraqi airspace.
'The United States gave intelligence,' Buyukanit said according to the Anatolia news agency.
'But what is more important is that the United States last night opened northern Iraqi airspace to us. By doing that, the United States approved the operation,' Buyukanit said.
The raids were strongly denounced by the government of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, which said they would only make things worse.
'We think this operation will disrupt the efforts of finding a suitable solution,' said Fuad Hussein, a spokesman for the region's president Massud Barzani.
He called the military strike a 'violation of Iraq's sovereignty and appears to be backed by the United States.'
The PKK, which has waged a deadly insurgency in southeastern Turkey since 1984, maintains a network of rear bases in the rugged Qandil mountains near where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey meet.
The rebel group itself said the strikes lasted eight hours.
The air strikes were at least the second Turkish operation against the PKK inside Iraq this month. Turkish helicopters pounded suspected rebel rear bases on December 1.
Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek warned Turkey would launch more cross-border strikes if necessary. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.