Turkish warplanes bombed eight suspected Kurdish hideouts in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the third cross-border air assault in 10 days, Turkey's military said. The warplanes struck in an "effective pinpoint operation" targeting eight caves and other hideouts being used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the military said in a statement posted on its Web site.
No deaths were immediately reported, according to the AP.
The military launched the latest operation after spotting a group of "rebels" preparing to spend the winter in hideouts, the statement said.
In Iraq, Jabar Yawar, the deputy minister of the Kurdistan regional government's Peshmerga forces, said Turkish planes had carried out a half-hour raid near the border, starting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. "Because the areas were deserted, there were no civilians casualties," he said.
Of Wednesday's raids, the military said: "It was observed that a large group of terrorists who were being watched by the Turkish Armed Forces for a long time were preparing to spend the winter ... in eight caves and hideouts."
"Turkish warplanes have struck the mentioned terrorist group targets with an effective pinpoint operation as of the morning of Dec. 26," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi cabinet approved a draft law on Wednesday that will offer a general pardon to thousands of prisoners in U.S. military and Iraqi custody, a government spokesman said. "The cabinet has passed the general pardon law, which will define who is eligible to be freed from all prisons, both Iraqi and American," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.
The law still needs to be approved by parliament.
Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, said earlier this month that the draft law was aimed at boosting reconciliation between majority Shi'ite and Sunnis.
