Iraqi Kurds expel Turkish journalist

BAGHDAD: A Turkish journalist who reported that Iraq's Kurdish president personally escorted two rebel commanders to Europe for eventual extradition to Turkey was expelled from northern Iraq on Monday for publishing "false news," the semiautonomous government said.

The journalist for Ihlas news agency, Sadiq Kahraman, cited anonymous sources in his Nov. 24 report saying Massoud Barzani had accompanied two senior Kurdish rebel commanders on a military plane to a European country. The report said U.S. or Iraqi Kurdish authorities preferred the two be extradited through a third country.

Saveen Dazi'e, head of foreign relations for Kurdistan Democratic Party, denied the report and said Kahraman was being deported for his role in publishing "false news that escalates the situation with Turkey," which has long been angered that Kurdish rebels seek haven in northern Iraq while launching attacks on Turkish soldiers.

Ihlas said Iraqi Kurdish officials came to the news agency's office on Sunday and demanded he name his sources.