Iraqi Kurds say Turkey shells area inside Iraq

BAGHDAD, May 17 (Reuters) The government of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region accused Turkish forces of shelling an area inside northern Iraq today.

Khaled Salih, a senior official of the Kurdish regional government in Arbil, said by telephone that no one was hurt when three shells slammed into a mountainous area close to the town of Kani Masi a few km (miles) inside Iraq.

''A village ... has been bombarded from the Turkish side. There were no casualties, but there was material damage,'' Salih told Reuters. ''This is the second time in a week villages have been bombarded in the north.'' ''We will report this to the government in Baghdad so that they can contact the Turkish government and ask for an explanation,'' he said.

Ankara traditionally launches a spring offensive against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in southeastern Turkey, an area which borders Iraq.

Salih said there were no PKK fighters in the area where the shells landed.

Earlier this month, villagers in Iraq's Kurdistan accused neighbouring Iran of hitting targets inside Iraq, a charge Tehran denied.

The PKK, seeking a Kurdish homeland including southeastern Turkey, accuses Ankara and Tehran of mounting coordinated operations against the group and its Iranian wing, PJAK.

Turkey and Iran are wary of the autonomy Iraqi Kurds have consolidated since the 2003 Iraq war and fear it might lead to more unrest among their own large Kurdish population.

REUTERS KD RN2342