Turks Launch Second Straight Air Strike in Northern Iraq

A fleet of Turkish warplanes bombarded northern Iraq for a second straight day today in its ongoing campaign against Kurdish separatists. The air strike lasted for an hour but resulted in no casualties because the area's villages had already been evacuated, reports the Washington Post. Once again the US sympathized with Turkish concerns about Kurdish guerrillas but did not support the attacks, according to American officials.

"We all have a pretty substantial interest in the stability of Iraq, and I think none of us want to see operations pursued in a manner that can threaten basic stability inside Iraq," said Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador in Baghdad. Turkey's military is seeking to root out members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which both Turkey and the US consider a terrorist organization. (More Kurdistan Workers' Party stories.)