Turkey launches cross-border operation into Iraq (2nd Lead)

Feb 22, 2008, 10:51 GMT

Turkish soldier guards on the road while Turkish tanks are on their way to Northern Iraq from the Habur border near Turkey southeastern city Diyarbakir, Turkey on 22 February 2008. Turkey started a ground operation against the PKK in the Northern Iraq on Thursday night, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement. EPA/STR

Ankara/Baghdad - Turkish troops crossed into Iraq on Thursday evening in an attempt to destroy Kurdish rebel bases in the mountainous region with Turkish television reporting that 10,000 troops were involved in the operation.

Turkish soldiers crossed the border at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) Thursday evening following a day of air and artillery attacks on suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) targets in Iraq, the General Staff announced in a statement posted Friday on its official website.

The statement said the military attached utmost importance to the territorial integrity of Iraq, that the operation would be limited and that the troops would return to Turkey in the 'shortest time possible.'

The NTV private television station reported that 10,000 had crossed the border and by midday Friday had reached were 10 kilometres inside Iraq.

'This operation's target is the PKK terrorist organization. It is a continuity of the air operations that have been carried out. Civilians and local elements who do not show hostility to Turkish forces will not be negatively affected by this operation,' the statement said.

The military statement said that the aim of the operation was to stop the PKK from using mountainous northern Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks on Turkey. The General Staff has previously estimated that there are around 4,000 to 5,000 PKK guerrillas based in northern Iraq.

Turkish media reported that there had been sounds of fighting on Friday but it was not clear where exactly, or with whom, the Turkish military forces had been fighting.

Meanwhile Kurdish peshmerga sources said that some 2000 Kurdish peshmergas from the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan on Friday moved from the city of Erbil to the Iraqi-Turkish border regions prepared for attacks from the Turkish army.

'Additional Kurdish troops were sent to the city of Dohuk to support the already existing forces there, after Turkish forces had attacked the eastern part of the city,' the source said.

He added the Kurds were preparing for a sudden military operation against the Turks.

On Thursday, Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan reported artillery strikes on several areas in northern Iraq, including Safa Qandil, Qalit Duza, Zarwa, Sinsakir and Raniya.

On Friday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul announced in a statement that he telephoned his Iraqi counterpart Celal Talabani Thursday night informing him of the air strikes and inviting him to Turkey but he did not discuss the land forces operation.

Speculation has been high in Ankara that a cross-border operation would be launched in the near future with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan earlier in the week telling reporters that an operation remained 'on the table.'

The launch of the operation came as a surprise however as all four other large-scale cross-border operations had been launched in the spring after winter snows had melted.

More than 32,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK launched its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast of Turkey.