Mahmur camp in N Iraq surrounded by Iraqi soldiers

Sirnak, (Xinhua) -

A large camp in northern Iraq has been surrounded by Iraqi army, reported a Xinhua correspondent at the Turkish-Iraqi border on Thursday.

Iraqi soldiers set up check points in front of the Mahmur camp in which people ran away from Turkey in 1990's are living, and do not let foreign people, including the members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) to enter into the camp. Turkey has claimed that the Mahmur camp was under control of the PKK and was logistics source for the PKK.

Vehicles and people who want to enter into the camp are being checked by Iraqi soldiers.

The Iraqi soldiers dug positions near the camp to prevent foreign people from reaching it and by the way, they patrol near the camp with jeeps.

They don't let anybody, except people who are living in the camp, to enter, said Youssef Abdurrahman, the chief of subdivision of soldiers, adding, "we do check 24 hours and put the camp under control. We are checking everywhere."

"Nobody can enter and the daily life is going on normally in the camp which is closed to journalists," added Addurrahman.

Local media reported that there are nearly 10,000 people living in the camp and there is a school and hospital in it.

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the mountainous border with Iraq in preparation for the cross-border operation to crush the about 3,000 strong PKK rebels in northern Iraq, which was approved by the Turkish parliament last month.

The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in more than two decades conflict.