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US welcomes release of Turkish soldiers
Nov 4, 2007, 23:10 GMT
Washington - The US government on Sunday welcomed the release of eight Turkish soldiers who had been kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The soldiers were taken hostage by PKK guerillas who carried out an ambush on October 21 in which, according to the Turkish military, a group of around 150 PKK rebels crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq and launched an attack that killed 12 soldiers.
The soldiers were given to Iraqi officials, who handed them over to the US military for transfer to Turkish authorities, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
'We applaud the efforts of the government of Iraq to secure the release of the hostages,' he said. 'We urge continued, deepened, and immediate cooperation between Iraq and Turkey in combating the PKK, which is a common enemy of Turkey, Iraq and the United States.'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to meet with US President George W Bush on Monday in Washington.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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