SULAIMANIYAH: Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq overnight wounding one person in the raid, an Iraqi regional government official told AFP on Saturday.

"The bombing started at 3:00 am (midnight GMT) and lasted for one hour in the area of Sidakan," near the Iranian border, said the official from Iraq`s Kurdish autonomous region, on condition of anonymity.

"A civilian was injured and farms were damaged," he said, adding that the raid hit villages in the Qandil mountains, an area in northeastern Iraq, which also straddles the borders of Iran and Turkey.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) which is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has been campaigning for Kurdish self-rule since August 1984.

The nearly 26-year conflict has claimed some 45,000 lives.

The PKK has significantly escalated attacks against Turkish targets after jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said in May he was abandoning efforts for peace with Ankara and the rebels called off a unilateral truce last month.

Turkey has asked Iraq, the United States and the Kurdish regional administration in Arbil to hand over 248 Kurdish rebels operating from rear bases in Iraq, the Istanbul-based Hurriyet daily reported on Saturday.

The list includes rebel commanders such as Murat Karayilan, Cemil Bayik and Duran Kalkan, and Ankara wants the handover to be "as soon as possible," the newspaper said, quoting unnamed senior Turkish officials.

Turkey has also mooted a joint military operation "if necessary," Hurriyet said.
"The net is tightening," an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

BDST:1701 HRS, July 10, 2010