Turkey’s Government Troops Attack The Kurds in Iraq

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül talking to officers in the country’s government troops on the new fighting between the Turkish government forces and the Kurdish PKK guerrillas. On Wednesday, at least 24 Turkish soldiers killed in a series of PKK attacks, and the Turks responded with air strikes and ground offensive against Kurdish targets in northern Iraq. Gül said that the Turks “can not be cowed by terror.”

Photo: HO / Reuters

Turkey’s army has entered northern Iraq in search of Kurdish rebels, and killed 15 of them. Invasion takes place after the rebels killed at least 26 Turkish soldiers in a series of attacks.

The attacks happened early Wednesday morning in several locations in the Hakkari province on the Turkish side of the border with Iraq, reported the television in Turkey. Government Army counterattacked and needed three to four kilometers inside the Iraqi area and had the support of combat aircraft, it was said. 

- Turkey can not be cowed by terror, and we will do everything we can to put an end to these attacks, said the Turkish president Abdullah Gül.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called off a visit to Kazakhstan as a result of the new games.

Attacks

Rebels from the Kurdish PKK guerrillas attacked earlier Wednesday government troops in Cukurca in Hakkari province, near Turkey’s border with Iraq, said Turkish security forces. According to the Turkish television channel NTV went rebels also attacked the soldiers in Yuksekova in the same province.