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Fighting intensifies in northern Iraq

Fighting intensified yesterday between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, amid US calls for Turkey to wrap up its military incursion in the region as swiftly as possible.

Explosions and gunfire were reported in and around Hakurk, a stronghold of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), some 20km from the Turkish border.

More than a dozen Turkish warplanes could be seen heading for the area.

The PKK said yesterday it had shot down a Turkish attack helicopter, but there was no independent confirmation.

Turkish troops, backed by air support, moved into northern Iraq on Thursday evening in the largest cross-border offensive in years against PKK hideouts.

The US cautioned its NATO ally that military measures alone could not resolve the Kurdish problem and stressed that the incursion needed to be completed as quickly as possible.

"The shorter the better," US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said yesterday.

Gates also urged Turkey to pursue political and economic measures that would win over its sizeable Kurdish community and erode popular support for the rebels.

"Just using the military techniques are not going to be sufficient to solve the problems," Gates said during a visit to Canberra.

The US is providing its NATO ally with real-time intelligence on PKK movements.

At least 79 PKK fighters and seven soldiers have been killed and numerous rebel hideouts destroyed since Thursday, the Turkish military said.

The PKK said 45 soldiers had been killed.

The Firat news agency, considered to be a PKK mouthpiece, reported air raids and fighting yesterday in the Zap area and said about 5,000 Turkish soldiers and 60 tanks were advancing in nearby Haftanin, close to the border town of Zaho.
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