Turkish Kurd rebels renew fight from Iraq mountain

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02276032.htm

NEAR RANIA, Iraq, June 2 (Reuters) - Turkish Kurd rebels holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq said they had ended their five-year ceasefire with Turkey and would renew their fight for a Kurdish homeland that has cost 30,000 lives.

Known as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) till 2002, the rebels suffered a body blow in 1999 when Turkey captured their leader Abdullah Ocalan and largely retreated to the remote peaks of north Iraq vowing to give up the armed struggle.

But Turkey's army never let up its campaign to crush the PKK and U.S. forces in Iraq have said they would hunt down the rebels in their mountain stronghold near the Iranian border. Iraqi Kurd groups are also hostile to their Turkish cousins.

"The Turkish state has never complied with the ceasefire -- up until now their operations are continuing," said Zubeyir Aydar, president of KONGRA-GEL (Kurdistan People's Congress), the PKK's latest reincarnation.

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