(15 Oct 2007)

++NIGHT SHOTS++
Inshki village, 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from Turkish border - 14 October 2007
1. Pull out of street scene, fires in the background
2. Pull out from fires on hillside to car driving along road
3. Various of fires glowing in the distance
4. Zoom out from fires to wide of people watching
5. Various of the fires and sign reading "Inshki village"
6. Wide of fires

Irbil, northern Iraq - 15 October 2007
7. Various of traffic on streets
8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Salih Kaka Ameen, Local resident:
"We condemn the Turkish bombardment of Kurdish areas. We demand that America intervene to put an end to this crisis."
9. Wide exterior of mosque

STORYLINE:

Residents of a Kurdish village in northern Iraq near to the border with Turkey, have alleged that their village came under attack from Turkish forces.

AP Television footage filmed on Sunday, showed fires on the outskirts of the village of Inshki, which residents alleged had been caused by artillery shelling.

AP Television could not independently verify the information.

Iraqi army Colonel Hussein Rashid of the border guard forces said Turkish troops fired more than 250 artillery shells and at least 10 missiles on three areas inside Iraqi territory late on Saturday.

But, he said, the shelling caused no casualties or damage as it hit only abandoned areas in the mountains.

Turkey has confirmed shelling Iraqi soil after its troops came under fire on Friday but did not give a location.

The Turkish military also said in a statement on Saturday that its troops have responded heavily to armed attacks from northern Iraq and will continue to do so.

In the northern Iraqi city of Irbil (approximately 70 km (43.5 miles) from Inshki village) one local resident AP Television spoke to, condemned the alleged bombardment and called for the United States to intervene.

"We condemn the Turkish bombardment of Kurdish areas. We demand that America intervene to put an end to this crisis," Salih Kaka Ameen said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government decided on Monday to send a motion to Parliament seeking approval for a military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, a government spokesman said.

US officials have urged NATO-ally Turkey not to send troops and appealed for a diplomatic solution with Iraq.

The Kurdish self-rule region in northern Iraq is one of the country's few relatively stable areas and the Kurds also are a longtime US ally.

During the 1990s, Turkish troops penetrated Iraqi territory several times, sometimes with as many as 50-thousand troops.

The Turkish forces withdrew, leaving behind about 2-thousand soldiers who remain to monitor rebel activities.

Ankara rotates the troops there time to time, but it has not sent reinforcements. A tank battalion has been stationed at a former airport at the border town of Bamerni.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984 and the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

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