ANKARA (AFP) – Turkish warplanes bombed a Kurdish rebel hideout in neighboring northern Iraq overnight, the military said yesterday. The air raid targeted a cave in the Avasin-Basyan region, which served as a base for a “large group” of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants who were preparing for an attack across the border in Turkey, the statement said. The hideout “was hit successfully” and the warplanes returned safely to their bases, it said, without giving details on any losses among the rebels.

BELGRADE (AFP) – A supporter of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, critically injured in clashes with riot police in Belgrade last month, has died, an ultra-nationalist politician said Saturday. Ranko Panic, who was from Croatia, suffered injuries to his abdomen on July 29 when police cracked down on demonstrators protesting Karadzic’s transfer to the UN war crimes tribunal, said Radical Party leader Aleksandar Vucic. “Those in power must declare who is responsible for Ranko Panic’s death,” Vucic was quoted as saying by the Beta news agency, adding that an autopsy would be held today. Panic’s death could not be confirmed through other sources. More than 70 people were injured, just over half of them police officers, when demonstrations against Karadzic’s transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia turned violent.