TURKISH jets launched major attacks on villages and guerilla bases across Iraqi Kurdistan over the past few days but failed to inflict any casualties, Kurdish resistance forces reported today.

Air strikes hit targets in the area known as the medya defence zones, part of the Qandil mountains in the north-west of Iraq, near the border with Iran.

The area is a sanctuary and headquarters for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The attacks were timed to coincide with the 23rd anniversary of the abduction of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, a date marked by protests and other activities by his supporters.

Kurdish resistance forces said that Turkish fighter jets pummelled villages in the Zap, Metina and Avasin mountains.

The villages have been the target of a 10-month illegal war and occupation being waged by Ankara, ostensibly targeting PKK positions as it aims to crush the organisation in its stronghold.

But it has met fierce resistance by the guerilla fighters, leading the Turkish armed forces to change tactics, allegedly using chemical weapons.

These have not only targeted PKK fighters, about 40 of whom the organisation says have been killed in chemical attacks, but also agricultural workers and villagers in the region.

According to the PKK, Turkey has used chemicals in more than 400 attacks, although this claim cannot be independently verified.

The Morning Star has met those who claim to be affected by chemicals, many of whom were suffering with breathing difficulties and presented with what appeared to be burns.

Medics said that they have been threatened by security forces who allegedly forced them to change reports that said they treated patients for exposure to chemicals.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has ignored numerous calls to send a fact-finding team to the region while official letters from Kurdish officials to the 128-member body have been ignored.

Turkey’s latest bombing comes weeks after it targeted the UN-administered Makhmour refugee camp, which is home to some 12,000 Kurds who fled forced assimilation operations in the 1990s.

Two people were killed in that attack while at least 20 missiles targeted the Yazidi-populated Shengal region.

A delegation from Britain is set to visit the affected areas later this month.