Turkish troops invade Iraq to target rebels

Turkish troops have launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels.

The ground operation started after Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed suspected rebel targets yesterday, the military said on its website.

“The Turkish Armed Forces, which values Iraq’s territorial integrity and its stability, will return as soon as planned goals are achieved,” the statement said.

“The executed operation will prevent the region from being a permanent and safe base for the terrorists and will contribute to Iraq’s stability and internal peace.”

Private NTV television said 10,000 troops were taking part in the cross-border offensive, which follows periodic air raids on suspected hideouts of the PKK rebel group in Iraq. The Kurdish militants are fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish south-east, and have carried out attacks on Turkish targets from bases in northern Iraq.

Nihat Ali Ozcan, a terrorism expert with the research centre TEPAV, said the operation was launched at this time to hit the group before any infiltration by rebels into Turkey in the spring, the traditional start of the fighting season.

“I think it is aimed to keep the PKK under pressure before the group starts entering Turkey,” he said on CNN-Turk television. “I don’t think the operation is a large-scale one.”

An Iraqi border forces officer, Col. Hussein Tamer, said Turkish shelling yesterday hit several Kurdish villages in the Sedafan area, some 20 miles from the border.

Turkey has staged ground incursions against Turkish Kurd rebels in northern Iraq in past years. The PKK launched its guerrilla campaign in 1984, and as many as 40,000 people have died.