Kurdistan calls for end to Iranian bombing

ERBIL, Iraq, June 19 (UPI) -- Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani Thursday called on Iran to halt military bombardments on targets in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Barzani issued a direct appeal to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to order Iranian military forces to cease operations targeting members of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, PJAK, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, in villages along the Iranian border with Iraq.

The prime minister said his government sought warm relations with Iraq's neighbors and opposed any attempt to use Kurdish territory as a staging ground to attack Iran, al-Sumaria reported Thursday.

Meanwhile, Turkish forces used advanced Cobra fighter jets to target Kurdish separatists operating in southeastern Turkey, killing three PKK rebels.

The Iranian Press TV reported PKK rebels also killed three Iranian police officers on patrol near the northwest border of Iraq.

Press TV said the PKK operates in northern Iraq with weapons provided by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and collaborates with the PJAK to launch attacks on western Iran and southern Turkey.