Israeli Guards Kill Three Kurds In Berlin
BERLIN February 17 (South News) -Israeli security guards shot and killed
three Kurds who forced their way into the Israeli consulate Wednesday with
dozens of protesters enraged by reports that Israel aided in the arrest of
the foremost Kurdish rebel leader.
Kurdish witnesses said one was an 11-year-old boy. At least 43 people were
injured: 16 demonstrators and 27 police officers. Police said they arrested
220 Kurds, 45 at the consulate and the remainder at demonstrations after
the shootings.
As many as 100 demonstrators - some brandishing clubs and iron bars -
pummeled their way past 30 German police officers sent to the Israeli
consulate 30 minutes earlier after officials received reports that Kurds
planned to take the building, police chief Hagen Saberschinsky said.
The Kurds climbed a fence surrounding the four-story white building and
broke through the door. A man and a woman were shot to death in the
consulate's foyer and another man was shot in a stairwell, Saberschinsky said.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the guards fired in
self-defense. Israel's ambassador to Germany accused police of being
unprepared for the Kurdish attack.
``Our people have standing orders to prevent, with force if necessary --
including by opening fire -- any attempt to take hostages and to defend
themselves,'' Netanyahu said.
Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said the killings were the result of
a ``dirty war'' conducted by Turkey and Israel against the Kurds. Israel
had put its diplomatic missions on alert earlier after a news report
claimed that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency helped Turkey track Ocalan
After the violence, Israel closed its diplomatic missions in Europe for the
day and the United States urged Americans traveling abroad to take special
precautions.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said four or five Turkish commandos, a
pilot and a doctor took part in the covert operation that brought Ocalan
back to Turkey.
Turkish intelligence released a videotape showing Ocalan being put aboard a
private jet in Kenya, blindfolded with tape and in handcuffs. On the video,
masked Turkish commandos strap Ocalan into a seat and the tape wrapped
around his head is cut off. He winces. A close-up shows his face drenched
in sweat.
One of the commandos tells him the tape is rolling. ``You can tape me and
broadcast it since you haven't tortured me,'' Ocalan says. ``I love my
country. My mother was a Turk. If there is anything I can do, I will do it.
Don't ask me anything else.''
One of the commandos replies: ``Welcome to your country. You're our guest
now.'' The footage ends with the commandos making victorious ``high-five''
and ``thumbs up'' signs. The nucleus of the special commando force, known
as the ``maroon berets,'' was trained by Green Berets and other American
instructors.
The United States has rejected suggestions that it gave Ankara intelligence
reports on Ocalan's whereabouts or helped the operation but on Monday gave
tacit support to an incursion by Turkish troops into northern Iraq on a
military operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"We support the right of the Turkish government to defend itself against
terrorists," State Department spokesman James Foley told reporters. "We
expect that if there are operations across the border they will be limited
in scope and duration and would fully respect the rights of the civilians
in the region," he said, declining to comment further.
Turkey's NTV news channel reported earlier Wednesday that the operation was
launched Tuesday as the PKK's long-sought leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was
snared in an undercover operation in Kenya and brought back to Turkey.
Meanwhile Turkish forces advanced into a Kurdish-held enclave of northern
Iraq in a thrust aimed at Ocalan's guerrillas, military officials said
Wednesday.
The TV station reported that the Turkish units had been crossing Turkey's
border with Iraq throughout Wednesday. "Officials said the operation aimed
to deliver another heavy blow to the weakening presence of the PKK in
northern Iraq," the channel reported.
And eyewitnesses at Turkey's Habur border gate with Iraq said around 3,000
to 4,000 troops together with armoured vehicles had crossed over in the
last few days. Border officials said the offensive was aimed at a series of
Kurd rebel bases strung along the mountainous border region.
--
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