Turkish air force jets bombed Kurdish rebels camps in northern Iraq overnight, in response to the attacks which killed 24 soldiers in the southeast, local security sources said Thursday. Military activity at the air base in mainly Kurdish Diyarbakir province was very intensive throughout the night, with many F-16 jets taking off to bomb the hideouts of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), they said. The intense military activity also disrupted civilian air traffic in Diyarbakir, they added. PKK attacks against military posts along the border with Iraq killed 24 people and injured 18 late Tuesday.
According to press reports, the attacks were carried out when between 200 and 250 Kurdish rebels entrenched in the mountains of northern Iraq entered Turkish territory to carry out raids on several military posts. The Turkish aircraft had immediately responded to the rebel attack. Commandos were also dispatched in pursuit of the assailants and special units were sent by helicopter a few kilometres inside Iraqi territory. The toll from the attacks was the heaviest for the army since 1993. It has sent shockwaves across the country, which was to bury its dead Thursday. President Abdullah Gul, who recently made a morale-boosting visit to border troops, said Turkey’s revenge for the attacks would be bitter.
Tunisians abroad vote in
first Arab Spring election
PARIS
AFP
Tunisians living abroad voted Thursday in the first post-Arab Spring free election, three days before their compatriots at home go to the polls to turn the page on 23 years of autocratic rule. Expat Tunisians choose 18 of the 217 members of the constituent assembly, voting until Saturday in six “constituencies”: two in France, one in Italy, one in Germany, one in North America and one for other Arab nations. Tunisians living in former colonial ruler France will elect 10 of these 18 seats, in an assembly that will be tasked with drafting a new constitution. Pollsters expect the Islamist Ennahda (Renaisance) to win the most votes, stoking fears Tunisia may swap a secular dictatorship for a religious one nine months after street protests toppled strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. “Operations have started in Paris. There’s a lot of people, at least 200 in front of the consulate,” said Ali Ben Ameur, head of the IRIE election organising body in northern France, in Paris. Votes cast abroad will be counted on Saturday and the results announced after voting ends in Tunisia itself on Sunday.
