Turkish forces crossed into Iraq yesterday to strike at Kurdish rebels and warplanes pounded their bases in retaliation for the death of 24 soldiers, officials said.
“A large-scale land operation, backed by air strikes, has begun in five separate spots inside Turkey and across the border with 22 battalions,” the military general staff said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The 22 battalions comprise commando units as well as gendarmerie and special forces, it added, without specifying how many had entered Iraq. Analysts said the total troops deployed would be 10,000 to 15,000.
Photo: AFP
Air force jets kept up bombing raids overnight in response to Wednesday’s coordinated attacks by guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on military posts, which caused the worst loss of life for the army since 1993, local security sources said.
Military activity at the air base in mainly Kurdish Diyarbakir Province was very intensive throughout the night with F-16 jets taking off to target the PKK hideouts, they said.
According to press reports, between 200 and 250 Kurdish rebels entrenched in the mountains of northern Iraq crossed into Turkey late on Tuesday to carry out the raids, which left 24 Turkish soldiers dead and 18 wounded.
Turkish aircraft immediately responded to the attacks. Commandos were dispatched in pursuit of the assailants and special units dropped by helicopter a few kilometers inside Iraqi territory on Wednesday.
A military ceremony was held yesterday morning in Van, 150km north of Wednesday’s combat zone. The coffins, draped with the red and white flag of Turkey, were loaded into military aircraft to be taken to their hometowns for burial.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul vowed revenge for the attacks would be bitter.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to fight the PKK, but said the rebels’ actions would not change his government’s determination to resolve the Kurdish conflict.
Nechirvan Barzani, a former prime minister of the Kurdish regional government in Iraq, paid a surprise visit to Ankara late on Wednesday.
“We strongly condemn this [Wednesday’s] attack,” he said yesterday after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “Such attacks are in the interest of neither the Turks nor the Kurds.”
Meanwhile, the PKK said it would “welcome” Turkish forces to northern Iraq, where the rebels maintain bases.
“If they want to come, let them come,” Dozdar Hammo, a PKK spokesman, said yesterday. “We will welcome them here.”
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