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Turkey: PM warns of Iraqi incursion to target Kurdish militants
(AKI) - Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Tuesday threatened to launch an incursion into northern Iraq to target Kurdish militants as the military bombed suspected terrorist bases in the region.He made the comment as Turkish warplanes bombed 21 bases allegedly linked to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside the country and across the border in northern Iraq. It was the fourth round of raids by the Turkish military after PKK militants killed 17 Turkish soldiers near Semdinli in the country's southeast on Friday. The military said its fighter jets attacked 21 rebel positions early Tuesday in Iraq's Avasin Baysan region and Turkey's Iki Yaka and Buzul Dagi mountains that border Iraq. According to Turkish media reports, Erdogan warned that Turkey would launch an incursion into northern Iraq to target the PKK "if needed". "The sole target of a possible cross-border operation will be the terrorist organisation," Erdogan told members of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party's parliamentary group in Ankara. "If need be, such an operation will not target either civilians or Iraq's unity and integrity," he added. Posted by: Fred 2008-10-08 |
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