Turkey air strike kills 23 near Kurdish village

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Source: BBC

An air strike near a Kurdish village by Turkish warplanes close to the border with Iraq has left at least 23 people dead, officials say.

One report said that smugglers had been spotted by unmanned drones and mistaken for Kurdish rebels.

The attack, on Wednesday night, took place near the village of Uludere in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey, according to Dogan news agency. <snip>

Smuggling of fuel and cigarettes is said to be commonplace between villages along the Iraqi border. But rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed the border into Turkey to stage attacks on Turkish forces.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16352388

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Barrels of diesel fuel being carried by mules exploded in the incident, according to the article.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. More: Deadly Turkish Air Raid Strikes Kurds (GRAPHIC WARNING)

ISTANBUL—At least 35 people were killed on Turkey's border with northern Iraq late Wednesday, in what Kurdish politicians say was a Turkish air strike against civilians, possibly mistaken for members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

According to lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, bombs dropped by Turkish warplanes killed more than 35 Kurdish villagers crossing from northern Iraq to their home villages in Turkey's southeastern province of Sirnak around 9.30pm Wednesday night. There were varying estimates of the total death toll from Kurdish politicians, but BDP official Altan Tan said 36 had been killed, while one local mayor said 19 of the dead were from one family.

Fehmi Yaman, the Kurdish mayor in Sirnak, said 35 civilians from the villages of Ortasu and Gulyazi had been confirmed dead and identified by noon Thursday.

"They were smuggling diesel oil from Iraq as they had done for years ... Villagers informed me about this around 1 a.m., when they reached the bodies. Some bodies were in pieces and some burnt to black. The villagers wrapped bodies and body parts in blankets," the mayor said. Video footage by Turkey's Dogan news agency showed people weeping around a line of some twenty or more bodies, wrapped up in blankets, before carrying them in a pickup truck in the border province of Sirnak.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204720204577128211633989868.html