"The Turks are behaving like Saddam Hussein. They bomb us and drive us from our lands," complained an angry Khalwat Rashit who had fled Nezuri, a hamlet threatened by Turkish artillery.

Some 15 families from that small community, 60 kilometres (35 miles) northeast of Zakho, have found refuge in Begova, a neighbouring locality which paradoxically also shelters a Turkish military base.

The base is there under an agreement made in 1997 between the party of the current president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, and Ankara.

"Raja, my little girl, can't stand the shelling. She cries and has nightmares, so we decided to leave," said the 50-year-old villager, dressed in traditional Kurdish long robe, her hair covered by a white scarf.

"We have nothing at all. We left everything," she added.

"Saddam Hussein burnt our houses to chase us out and we had to flee. After the tyrant's downfall, we came to Nezuri and rebuilt everything with government help.

"Now another dictatorship has chased us from our lands and our homes," she said, comparing the Turkish authorities to the Iraqi Baath regime of Saddam.

Nezuri mayor Khalil Mirmeh, also wearing traditional Kurdish costume, said Turkish bombardments had destroyed houses in the village.

"The village bridge was destroyed too, completely cutting us off from three neighbouring villages. It's impossible to go there even on foot," said Mirmeh, surrounded by his grandchildren.

"The Turks have already killed my brother, 10 years ago while he was working in his field," added the 60-year-old.

"Even if they come we are stronger -- we will defend our lands, our villages and our families."

The mayor pointed to groups of children playing and running in the road around the houses sheltering the displaced. "We must tell the whole world that the Turks must cease their bombardment of the innocents," he said.

A delegation representing eight non-governmental Kurdish groups visited Begova to "witness the suffering of these refugees" and report to the United Nations on the situation, said Mussa Ahmed, one member of the group.

Begova mayor Abdel Faysal said that of 15 frontier villages in the zone, five had been bombarded by Turkish heavy guns and the inhabitants of three other hamlets had fled their homes to take refuge in his community.