Iran shells Kurdish bases in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- Iranian artillery shelled three border towns in northern Iraq where Iranian Kurdish rebels are believed to be operating, an Iraqi Kurdish official said Sunday.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Kurdish protesters lobbed stones at police and soldiers in southeastern Turkey in a fourth straight day of clashes that have killed two people and injured dozens.

The shelling hit the towns of Marado, Razda and Dolakoka and lasted about two hours, said Azad Watho, a top official in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniya.

Watho, the administrator of the towns, said the shelling had targeted the fighters of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PEJAK, but had no more details.

Tehran had no immediate comment.

In Istanbul, Turkey, thousands of Kurds gathered for the Nowruz, or New Year, festival, some of them rallying for Kurdish autonomy.

In Yuksekova, in Hakkari province, Turkish police fired into the air and used tear gas and truncheons to break up a crowd of protesters throwing stones at officers, the private Dogan news agency reported.

A Kurdish demonstrator was shot to death Sunday and a police officer was injured, hospital officials said.