The report, posted on the web site of PUKmedia, a news outlet linked to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main Iraqi Kurdish groups, said that 350 Turkish commando’s crossed the border after heavy shelling of the region by Turkish artillery Saturday night.
According to PUKmedia, the Zaho and Diyana districts close to the Turkish border were shelled and that a Christian village in the region had been hit by at least 30 mortar shells.
The Turkish force has occupied a number of points in the Sere Seve region, the report said.
Turkish officials have neither confirmed or denied the Iraqi claims. However, Ankara has repeatedly said that it could conduct a military operation into Iraq to strike at bases of the terrorist group the PKK, which is estimated to have some 5000 militants near the border region.
Ankara has been angered by the lack of action by both Iraq and the US, which has troops in the region, to act to halt the activities of the PKK, which has ramped up its attacks against targets in Turkey since spring. At least 80 Turkish troops have been killed since the beginning of the year, many by land mines or remote controlled roadside bombs.
