Turkish planes strike inside Iraq

Turkish warplanes bombed three villages inside Iraq on Tuesday, targeting rebel bases in the Kurdish province of Dohuk, an official from the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga security force said.
He said the air strike was "short", lasting for around 10 minutes shortly after midday, and hit the villages of Rikan, Shezee and Samjuhu in the region of Al-Amadiyah near the border.
"The villages were deserted," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Turkish warplanes have been regularly targeting the rear-bases of rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Iraq in the past few days despite protests by Baghdad.
If confirmed, it would be the fifth Turkish military operation in the past week against the separatist PKK in northern Iraq, which Ankara says the rebels use as a springboard for attacks in Turkey.
The series of raids appear to have tacit approval of US President George W. Bush, who spoke to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
Turkish news agency Anatolia said Bush gave his backing for military strikes on PKK bases and that the two men hailed the cooperation in Ankara's battle against the outlawed group.
They agreed to continue sharing intelligence and again classed the PKK as a "common enemy", Anatolia said, stressing that Erdogan told Bush that Turkey's military operations were only targeting rebels.
Turkey has stepped up pressure since its parliament approved cross-border raids on PKK bases in October, with Ankara saying the Iraqi government and its US backers were not doing enough to halt attacks.
Ankara has accused Iraqi Kurds, who run an autonomous administration in the north of the country, of tolerating and supporting the PKK.
Iraq officials have protested over the Turkish raids.
"We are not denying that Turkey has a right to defend itself from extremists but some of its actions are not serving any democratic purpose in Turkey or in Iraq," President Jalal Talabani told reporters.