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Turkish Army sends tank-armed troops to border with Iraq

ISTANBUL, Feb 28 (KUNA) -- The Turkish Army has beefed up troop concentrations along the border with neighboring Iraq in a move seen as a prelude to launching a new round of attacks on Kurdish separatists' hideouts, the daily Hurriyet said in its Saturday edition.
The newspaper quoted military sources as saying that convoys of tanks were roaring in the direction of the border regions from the region of Shirnak, southeastern Turkey Observers said the military builup on the border would be followed with the launch of a series of attacks on bases of the activists of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, better known as the PKK.
They based their anticipation on the fact that the Turkish Army, over the past years, launched wide-scale military offensives against the Kurds after the onset of the spring season, when snow blanketing large areas of the mountainuous regions start melting.
The Turkish Army maintains heavy presence in the city of Shirnak and surrounding regions in southeastern Turkey. The city is populated by some 100, 000 people.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Washington and Ankara, started an armed campaign againt the Turks in 1984, with the aim of establishing an independent Turkish entity in southeastern Turkey. So far, some 40,000 people have perished in tit-for-tat fighting.
The Kurdish guerrillas maintain bases and hideouts, dotting mountainuous ridges, ravines and hills in the north of Iraq. (end) ta.rk KUNA 281331 Feb 09NNNN