Two Turk soldiers dead in Kurdish attack on convoy

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08128564.htm

TUNCELI, Turkey, July 8 (Reuters) - Kurdish guerrillas opened fire on a convoy of vehicles carrying a provincial governor on Tuesday killing two Turkish soldiers in troubled southeastern Turkey, officials and witnesses said.

Another soldier was injured in the attack launched by around 10 gunmen from dense forest surrounding a road some 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of the town of Tunceli, according to a Reuters reporter who was travelling in the convoy.

Turkey has launched several operations in recent weeks to track down hundreds of Kurdish militants it says are returning from the mountains of northern Iraq to Turkey after the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein earlier this year.

Tunceli governor Ali Cafer Akyuz escaped unharmed from the 10-minute firefight between the militants and Turkish soldiers guarding the 13-vehicle convoy.

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[mike_c]

1. it's starting....

The mere presence of Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq is a slap in face for Kurds, and the Iraqi Kurds are beginning to ride their wave of nationalism higher than anytime when Hussein was in power. Turkey is involved in all of this for one reason only: to suppress the Kurds. One more powderkeg with U.S. soldiers sitting on it.

[dwillison]

2. Turkey is involved in all of this for one reason only: to suppress the Kur

The oil fields in the extreme north of Iraq (which Turkey has claimed
as theirs) might have something to do with it.

[ward919]

3. The sh*t is in the fan...and it is flying.

This "adult" (lest we forget) administration is going to be so overwhelmed by reality that they might all crack up!

[Blind Tiresias]

4. Worst nightmare

This situation can get very ugly. While I think the generals are confident of their abilities in handling any sunni or shiite uprising in southern and central iraq, they are scared shitless of having to deal with the Kurds. These people have fought guerilla war for 3 straight generations. They are the finest partisans in the world. They will be more of a match for our special forces, but the regular army will have a difficult time dealing with them. A protracted campaign against Kurdish fighters is something centcom will desparately avoid

[NYC]

5. Maybe that's why U.S. soldiers captured Turkish soldiers

yesterday or the day before.