12 Turkish Troops Killed in Rebel Attack

[kpete]

12 Turkish Troops Killed in Rebel Attack

By VOLKAN SARISAKAL
The Associated Press
Sunday, October 21, 2007; 10:05 AM

SIRNAK, Turkey -- Kurdish rebels ambushed a military unit near Turkey's border with Iraq early Sunday, killing 12 soldiers and increasing pressure on the Turkish government to stage attacks against guerrilla camps in Iraq. Iraq's president, a Kurd, ordered Kurdish guerrillas to lay down their weapons or leave.

The soldiers died when rebels blew up a bridge as a 12-vehicle military convoy was crossing it, CNN-Turk television said. The Turkish military said it killed 23 guerrillas in a counteroffensive, and Iraq reported Turkish shelling toward Kurdish villages in the border area in northern Iraq. There were no casualties in the artillery bombardment.

Turkish soldiers patrol on a road in the province of Sirnak, on the Turkish-Iraqi border, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. Turkey's Parliament on Wednesday authorized the government to send troops into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels who have been conducting raids into Turkey. The vote removed the last legal obstacle to an offensive, but there was no sign of imminent action as the United States urged restraint. (AP Photo/Kadir Konuksever) (Kadir Konuksever - AP)

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to stop their attacks amid fears an incursion would destabilize the relatively peaceful autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102100172.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[malaise]

1. And the WH has no comment because

George is out on his Sunday bicycle ride. :puke:

[uppityperson]

2. I've been mostly offline this last wk, what is going on there?

Are they following mrbush's example? I found this bit of news, wondering if it is a good summary. Thanks.

Per BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7053246.stm
"Ever since the Turkish parliament voted to authorise possible military operations in northern Iraq, calls have flooded into Ankara from around the world urging Turkey back from the brink.

The MPs' motion approves cross-border action by Turkish troops to target the bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"Finally Turkey has grabbed the world's attention," says Istanbul academic Soli Ozel. "