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Turkish soldiers clash with PKK, killing 38
Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Saturday vowed a strong response after 15 Turkish soldiers and 23 Kurdish PKK separatist rebels were killed in the bloodiest fighting this year in the country's southeast.Erdogan said he had cancelled a two-day visit to Mongolia and would immediately return home from Turkmenistan to discuss Ankara's reponse. An army spokesman said that fighting erupted Friday afternoon when a group of rebels attacked a border post in Semdinli town, Hakkari province, under cover of heavy weapons' fire from bases in northern Iraq. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan asked parliament last month to extend a mandate, which expires later this month, to launch further military operations against the PKK in Iraq. Posted by: Fred 2008-10-05 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=251859 |