Turkey Closer To Invading Northern Iraq After Kurdish Rebels Kill 12 Soldiers

[babylonsister]

PKK pushes Turkey to brink with fresh attacks

Suna Erdem in Istanbul, for Times Online


The prospect of Turkey invading northern Iraq drew closer today after Kurdish rebels killed at least 12 soldiers in an ambush, blowing up a bridge near the Iraqi border as a military convoy crossed.

The Turkish Prime Minister flew back to Ankara for an emergency summit with military leaders after the attack, in which another 16 troops were injured in heavy fighting and, according to unconfirmed reports, a further 10 were missing, believed kidnapped. In a separate incident in the same province today at least 17 people were injured when a mine blew up a wedding convoy.

The provocative upsurge in violence comes days after the Turkish Parliament gave the authorisation to press ahead with a threatened cross-border military incursion into Iraq, despite warnings from Washington and Brussels.

Turkey blames US and Iraqi authorities for failing to clamp down on the activities of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been using its guerilla bases in the mountains of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq to mount increasingly intense attacks on Turkish targets in recent weeks.

“We are determined to respond to these events in a level-headed manner. What must be done will be done…We are not giving any thought to what others might say,” Mr Erdogan said as he prepared to fly to the capital, Ankara, to join President Abdullah Gul and senior officials for the summit. “We are very angry at the moment.”

Turkey’s Government is under strong public and military pressure to take action against the PKK in northern Iraq. There are reportedly between 60,000 and 100,000 troops deployed along the border to try to stop the rebels crossing back into Turkey. Mr Erdogan has already ordered plans for some sort of cross-border action days after 13 Turkish troops were killed in an overnight ambush earlier this month. That ambush sparked nationwide condemnation as the soldiers’ funerals turned into marches demanding retaliation.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2707241.ece