Iraqi MPs upset over Iranian PKK operation

ERBIL, Iraq, July 18 (UPI) -- Iraqi lawmakers accused the government Friday of turning a blind eye to Iranian military attacks on Kurdish separatists in the northern region.

In an interview with the al-Jazeera television network, Kurdistan Democratic Party lawmaker Hussain al-Jaff said there is little media coverage of what amounts to an Iranian invasion of the country.

"The Kurdish people denounce the media blackout imposed on this topic," he said. "We really do not understand how the Iraqi government remains silent at bombing its own national soil."

Critics of the incursion point to frequent Iranian aerial bombardments in areas along the northern Iran-Iraq border where members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, operate.

Iran launched military operations in villages located roughly 3 miles inside Iraq beginning in 2006. Kurdish officials said the operations increased in late 2007 in several of the mountainous border regions as well.

Dhafir al-Ani with the Sunni Accordance Front bloc said Iraqi political parties with loyalties to Tehran are to blame for the silence on the issue.

"Those MPs representing Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and other parties close to Iran have used their influence to prevent this issue from being raised in the Parliament," he said.

In December the Turkish military launched major military operations against Kurdish separatists in the region using U.S. intelligence to track their movements in Iraq. A controversy erupted earlier this year when allegations surfaced that Ankara had shared that intelligence with Iranian officials.

Kurdish reports surfaced Friday saying Turkish fighters launched several raids inside Iraq targeting the groups.