KURDISH guerrilla fighters have called for a wave of resistance to the Turkish invasion of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, urging young people to organise uprisings in towns and cities.

“War must spread everywhere, it should not be limited to the mountains. Everyone must play his or her part. Effective actions must take place against the enemy,” Botan Agir told the ANF news agency today.

He said that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerillas would be “shields against the enemy forces in the mountains,” vowing that they would fight to their “last drop of blood against the Turkish invaders.”

Turkish troops have been engaged in fierce fighting since the launch of Operation Claw Lightning on April 23. Following days of air strikes targeting civilian areas, Turkey’s military launched a ground invasion in Iraqi Kurdistan’s mountainous Duhok province.

Ankara has been accused by Kurdish forces of using chemical weapons on three separate occasions and of shipping in 2,000 jihadists from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to join their assault.

But the allegations have not been investigated either by the United Nations or other international bodies, with the international community remaining silent over the invasion by the Nato member.

Nevertheless, Turkey’s army is struggling to cope with the PKK’s guerilla forces, which inflicted a further 17 casualties on the invading force at the weekend in addition to the 38 soldiers killed last week.

The Iraqi Communist Party demanded today that Ankara ends military operations, calling the Turkish forces’ actions “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.”

The party urged the Iraqi government to condemn Turkey’s actions and “its failure to respect the simplest rules governing relations between countries” after Turkish Foreign Minister Hulusi Akar announced plans to open a new permanent military base in the Metina area of Duhok.