| At a joint press conference with US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani expressed his concern over reports about Turkish and Iranian troop concentrations near the borders of both countries with Iraq. According to Turkish newspapers, the Turkish government had decided to move some 10.000 more troops towards the Iraqi border to boost its military presence there to 50.000. This move was deemed necessary to safeguard Turkey against infiltrating Kurdish PKK militia, especially in the light of last weeks continued clashes with Kurdish militants in Diyarbakir and surrounding towns. Iran has also decided to boost its military presence at its north western border with Iraq following repeated reports of infiltrations of spy and undercover action squads from the Iraqi Kurdish region. To thwart off such attempts, Iran had launched an attack on an alleged hideout of action squads in its north eastern mountainous regions bordering with Iraq firing also into Iraqi territory. |