Turkish warplanes launched bombing raids on PKK Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq's Qandil Mountains late May 1. "There has been heavy bombing and many Turkish planes were involved. So far, we have no word of any casualties," PKK spokesman Ahmed Danees told Reuters by telephone. Military sources told Reuters that at least 30 planes were involved in the raids, which they said targeted senior PKK members. (Hurriyet, Reuters, May 2)

The air-strikes come the same day a Turkish delegation headed by the Turkish Prime Ministry's chief adviser, Ahmet Davutoglu, met in Baghdad with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the Kurdistan Regional Government PM Nechirvan Barzani to discuss the crisis in northern Iraq. The meeting constituted the first formal contact between the Turkish government and Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government. Talabani, himself a Kurd, visited Turkey in early March in an effort to reduce tension. (New Anatolian, Hurriyet, May 2)

See our last posts on Iraq, Turkey and the struggle in Kurdistan.