Rebels kill 12 Turk troops

TUNCELI – Kurdish rebels killed 12 Turkish soldiers in an ambush yesterday near the Iraqi border, forcing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to call crisis talks that may authorise a cross-border military offensive.

The attack, one of the worst in more than a decade by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), came four days after the Ankara parliament backed a motion allowing troops to enter northern Iraq to fight guerrillas hiding there. Turkey’s military General Staff said 12 soldiers and 23 rebels were killed in Sunday’s clashes.Security sources had said earlier at least 13 Turkish soldiers had been killed.In another incident on Sunday, a landmine killed one person and wounded at least eight others in a minibus travelling near to where the soldiers were killed.It was unknown whether those in the minibus were military personnel or civilians.The United States, Turkey’s Nato ally, and the Baghdad government have urged Ankara to refrain from military action, fearing this could destabilise the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.Erdogan said military and government officials would meet at 17h00 GMT under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Gul to decide how Turkey should respond.”Our parliament has granted us the authority to act and within this framework we will do whatever has to be done,” he said at an Istanbul polling station after voting in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional changes.The PKK attack, which wounded up to 16 people, occurred in Hakkari province in the mountainous border area early yesterday.”Fighting is continuing between the soldiers and rebels in the area, with our troops backed up by Cobra helicopters,” a security source told Reuters.In Arbil, Iraq, a Kurdish military official said the Turkish military had fired artillery shells into about 11 areas along the border in Iraq early on Sunday but there were no casualties.Turkey has deployed as many as 100 000 troops along the border to try to stop the PKK rebels crossing from Iraqi bases to stage attacks inside Turkey.Erdogan’s government is under pressure from public opinion and the powerful military to take action against the PKK following a series of deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.Nampa-ReutersTurkey’s military General Staff said 12 soldiers and 23 rebels were killed in Sunday’s clashes.Security sources had said earlier at least 13 Turkish soldiers had been killed.In another incident on Sunday, a landmine killed one person and wounded at least eight others in a minibus travelling near to where the soldiers were killed.It was unknown whether those in the minibus were military personnel or civilians.The United States, Turkey’s Nato ally, and the Baghdad government have urged Ankara to refrain from military action, fearing this could destabilise the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.Erdogan said military and government officials would meet at 17h00 GMT under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Gul to decide how Turkey should respond.”Our parliament has granted us the authority to act and within this framework we will do whatever has to be done,” he said at an Istanbul polling station after voting in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional changes.The PKK attack, which wounded up to 16 people, occurred in Hakkari province in the mountainous border area early yesterday.”Fighting is continuing between the soldiers and rebels in the area, with our troops backed up by Cobra helicopters,” a security source told Reuters.In Arbil, Iraq, a Kurdish military official said the Turkish military had fired artillery shells into about 11 areas along the border in Iraq early on Sunday but there were no casualties.Turkey has deployed as many as 100 000 troops along the border to try to stop the PKK rebels crossing from Iraqi bases to stage attacks inside Turkey.Erdogan’s government is under pressure from public opinion and the powerful military to take action against the PKK following a series of deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.Nampa-Reuters