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The Turkish military says 15 of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey. At least 23 members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party were also killed in the fighting near the Iraqi border. The Turkish military says it was responding to a rebel attack on a military outpost. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will return early from an official visit in Turkmenistan because of the attack. Turkey has carried out several air strikes and a brief ground offensive against PKK targets in northern Iraq this year. Turkey claims that the rebels...

ISTANBUL: Turkish warplanes hit a suspected Kurdish rebel target in northern Iraq, Turkey's military said on Sunday. The cross-border air assault targeted a rebel shelter late on Saturday where a group of PKK Kurdish rebels were believed to have gathered before a planned attack in Turkey, the military said on its website. The military provided no casualty figures. The reported air raid on the Avasin-Basyan region of Iraq could not independently be confirmed. Turkey's military has launched several air raids and one ground incursion targeting the PKK rebel safe havens in northern Iraq since the parliament authorized cross-border military moves...

A Turkish energy ministry official confirmed that the BTC pipeline blast was a terrorist act. But what’s more, Russia’s international politics advisor to the Russian Duma declared the pipeline “dead” and that it would never operate again. An adviser to the Russian parliament also claimed the closed pipeline would not be opened again and declared the line is “dead”. “The world and countries in the region have seen that not NATO, but Russia is the only one who could secure the energy routes,” Alexander Dugin, international politics advisor to the Russia’s Duma, told Turkish Cumhuriyet daily. “In this context, regarding...

Three German tourists kidnapped in eastern Turkey Three German tourists were kidnapped in Turkey's eastern province of Agri, CNNTurk reported on Wednesday. They were kidnapped by terrorists, it added quoting the governor of Agri. (UPDATED) Three German climbers on Mount Ararat were kidnapped in Turkey's eastern province of Agri, CNNTurk reported on Wednesday. The three, who were party of a 13-member team, were kidnapped by terrorists, it added quoting the governor of Agri

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

Three German mountaineers were kidnapped by terrorists in Turkey's eastern province of Agri, the state-run Anatolian Agency reported Wednesday quoting the governor. (UPDATED) PKK terrorists seized the climbers, part of a group of 13 mountaineers, as they were ascending the mountain in Agri province, provincial governor Mehmet Cetin told the AA. "The terrorists said they carried out this action because of the German government's recent moves against PKK associations and sympathizers," the Anatolian Agency reported the Governor Mehmet Cetin as saying. Cetin said the terrorists kidnapped the three late on Tuesday, adding the gendarmerie had launched a wide-scale search and...

The Iranian sister organization of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has accused the United States of indirectly supporting the Teheran regime’s war against the rebels. Head of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), Haji Ahmedi, declared that the U.S. provided aerial reconnaissance intelligence to Turkey which was then passed through Ankara to Teheran. On May first, Turkish warplanes bombarded PKK positions in the Kandil Mountains. According to Turkish military sources, 150 PKK rebels were killed in that action. Turkish media speculated that the attacks also killed PKK military chief Murat Karayilan. The PJAK, however, denied these reports claiming only...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

CUKURCA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's military said Friday it has ended a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in Iraq, but said that foreign influence did not play a role in its decision. At least 200 trucks carrying Turkish troops were seen leaving the Iraqi border area and heading into Turkey's interior. The move came a day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Turkish leaders during a visit in Ankara that they should end the offensive as soon as possible. In Washington, President Bush made a similar point Thursday, saying Turkey needed to move quickly and get out. "Both the start...

ANKARA, Turkey - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he told his Turkish counterpart on Thursday that Turkey should end its offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as soon as possible, but that the U.S. is making no threats against its NATO ally if it fails to comply. "The United States believes the current offensive should be as short and precisely targeted as possible," Gates said after a meeting with Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul. Gates said that a specific timetable for the Turks to stop their attack "did not come up during my meeting with the defense minister," but...

WASHINGTON -- The Turkish government briefed the Bush administration about its plans to strike northern Iraq well in advance of launching the controversial operation and the U.S. raised no objections, according to American and Turkish officials. Turkish representatives told U.S. diplomatic and military officials that Ankara was planning to send ground troops into Iraq to strike targets belonging to the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, an anti-Turkish guerilla group, according to officials from both countries. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan personally told President Bush about the plans, the officials said. The White House confirmed the conversation occurred. "In terms of...

Turkey’s decision to send ground forces into northern Iraq, its biggest incursion into the Kurdish territories across its border for a decade, may be an understandable response to the reviving campaign by rebel separatists hiding there. But it is the last thing an Iraq trying to claw itself back from the precipice needs. The palpable improvement in the security situation in Iraq over the past year is fragile and uneven. Any destabilisation of Iraqi Kurdistan, the only relatively calm area of the country, could put paid to what is only a small chance that improvement can be turned into a...

CIZRE, Turkey: The Turkish Army on Sunday warned Iraqi Kurds not to shelter Kurdish rebels fleeing its military offensive in northern Iraq, as Baghdad labeled the incursion a "threat" to its sovereignty. As fighting intensified, the army said it had killed another 33 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), taking the rebel toll, according to Turkish figures, to 112 since the cross-border incursion began Thursday evening. PKK rebels "are trying to flee southward in panic," the general staff said in a statement. "Local Iraqi groups are expected to prevent members of the terrorist organization - the biggest enemy of...

BALINDA, Iraq, Feb. 23 -- The Iraqi Kurdish soldiers stood at the edge of the collapsed steel bridge and looked down into the teal waters rushing below. The last sign of the Iraqi government, a small border checkpoint, was far behind them down in the river valley. Ahead were snow-dusted mountains, abandoned villages and more bridges bombed by Turkish warplanes. The soldiers were at least 15 miles from Turkey's border. They could go no farther. It is in these rugged, largely inaccessible mountains along the border, an area inside Iraq but uncontrolled by any nation, that Turkish soldiers are fighting...

ZAKHU, Iraq, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Angered by heavy shelling and aerial bombardments, Kurds in northern Iraq's mountainous provinces vowed to defend themselves against Turkish attacks on Sunday, and accused Turkey's troops of targeting their villages. Turkish troops backed by warplanes and artillery crossed into Iraq's largely autonomous northern Kurdistan region last Thursday, to rout Kurdish separatist rebels who have hideouts in the mountains from which they launch attacks in southern Turkey. As Turkish forces pressed on with the incursion on Sunday, pickup trucks and minibuses full of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga security forces were patrolling the region's snow-covered mountain roads....

AS fighting rages across the nearby Turkish-Iraqi border between a Turkish expeditionary force and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Kurds in this Turkish town at the heart of the conflict say they are fed up with the violence and long to lead "normal" lives. "We want to live normal lives and not fear for our future," said Mehmet Demir, a Turkish Kurd. "Personally, I hope the army wipes out the PKK this time: it will be the best for everyone - Kurds and Turks." The town of Cizre - population 80,000 - is located in Sirnak province, 45...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it had reinforced its border security after Turkey launched an offensive in north Iraq against Kurdish rebels, a move an analyst said was likely aimed at stopping rebels hiding in Iran. Iranian forces have also often clashed in Iraqi border areas with rebels from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the PKK and which analysts say has bases in northeastern Iraq from where they operate against Iran. "Necessary measures have already been taken to reinforce our borders," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a weekly news conference....

Excerpt - ZAKHU, Iraq, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Kurdish PKK guerrillas said on Sunday they had shot down a Turkish Cobra attack helicopter during clashes with Turkish forces in northern Iraq. "At 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) yesterday, our fighters shot down a Cobra helicopter," Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), told Reuters by telephone. He gave no details of casualties but said more information would be released later. The incident had occurred during fighting in the remote Chamsku area close to the border, Danees said. ~ snip ~

Turkey launches ground operation in Iraq By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago Turkish troops have launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of separatist Kurdish rebels, the military said Friday — a move that dramatically escalates Turkey's conflict with the militants. It's the first confirmed ground operation by the Turkish military into Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and it raised concerns that it could trigger a wider conflict with the U.S.-backed Iraqi Kurds. The ground operation started after Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed suspected rebel targets on Thursday, the...

Walking through the Sur district of Diyarbakir with Abdullah Demirbas was like taking an old-fashioned mayoral stroll. As the day got under way in one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey, Demirbas passed through the narrow stone alleys, and one by one, shopkeepers stepped outside and waved. In return, Demirbas patted his chest and called out loud greetings. He stopped to compliment a cafe owner’s new door frames, asked a trio of women if they were satisfied with the trash collection and teased some kids about getting to school on time. Demirbas addressed most of the locals in Kurdish,...

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish warplanes attacked dozens of Kurdish rebel targets in Iraq on Monday as part of a U.S.-backed campaign to chip away at guerrilla strength while avoiding the risks of a ground-based offensive across the border. The planes hit 70 targets that were "detected and verified by intelligence sources," the Turkish military said in a possible reference to the U.S. intelligence it is receiving. The Turkish government has fought for more than two decades against Kurdish rebels who seek autonomy in southeastern Turkey. For years, the PKK rebel group has launched attacks into Turkish territory from virtual safe...

Still in Control Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling...

ANKARA, Turkey - Suspected Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb Thursday near a bus carrying soldiers in a Kurdish-dominated city in southeastern Turkey, killing five people and wounding 67. Thirty soldiers were among the wounded in the attack, the deadliest against Turkish troops since an Oct. 21 ambush that left 13 soldiers dead and prompted Turkey to mass tens of thousands of troops on the border with Iraq, where Kurdish rebels have hideouts. The attack appeared to be in retaliation for three airstrikes by Turkish warplanes against shelters of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq last month....

ANKARA Abdullah Gül, the Turkish President, praised the US for providing military intelligence as Turkey confirmed its third airstrike in ten days against Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. The attack on Nirvorokan in Dohuk province was the third against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq that the military has confirmed since December 16, in addition to a cross-border ground operation. The Turkish general staff said that six PKK militants were killed in mountains inside Turkey, bringing to 11 the death toll from a two-day security operation in the area. The PKK has waged a bloody campaign for...

THE GLOBE'S editorial on Turkey's fight against terror ("Turkey's harmful empty gesture," Dec. 18) shows a stunning disregard for the Turkish citizenry. The Globe contends that Turkey conducted air strikes in the name of "nationalist bravado." In reality, the strikes were conducted in response to PKK terrorist attacks from northern Iraq that have claimed the lives of at least 45 Turkish civilians and soldiers in the past few months. The toll of this campaign has been more than 30,000 in the last two decades. Like any sovereign nation, Turkey cannot stand idly by and allow terrorist attacks to shatter the...

Turkey in fresh Iraq air strikes It is the second such Turkish air strike in one week Turkey has launched fresh air strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the Turkish military says.Fighter planes attacked positions held by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a 35-minute raid, according to a statement on the army's website. Similar air strikes last Sunday were followed by an incursion involving several hundred Turkish soldiers across the border into Iraq two days later. Turkey says the PKK is using bases in Iraq to launch attacks on Turkey. Operations 'to continue' In a statement on...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Turkey informed the United States well in advance before launching weekend air raids into northern Iraq against Kurdish rebel bases, the Pentagon said Wednesday. "We had ample notification of the air strikes by the Turkish Air Force against PKK (Kurdish separatist group) positions in northern Iraq," spokesman Geoff Morrell said, confirming for the first time that Washington knew of Ankara's plans. "It was communicated to us through the Ankara coordination center, this has been opened for some months now, in which you have Turkish personnel along with US military personnel working to share intelligence." He told reporters...

Turkey's Terror Problem Is Ours Michael Rubin December 18, 2007 It's been nearly two months since the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) sparked an international crisis with a major attack inside Turkey, and more than six weeks since President Bush promised Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Washington would aid Turkey's fight against terrorism. Heady talk of intelligence sharing and cooperation followed and, indeed, may have been a factor in this weekend's Turkish air strikes on PKK targets in Iraqi Kurdistan. Yet at the same time the Bush administration -- more precisely its increasingly assertive State Department -- has embraced an...

U.S. military commanders in Iraq didn't know Turkey was sending warplanes to bomb in northern Iraq until the planes had already crossed the border, said defense and diplomatic officials, who were angered about being left in the dark. Americans have been providing Turkey with intelligence to go after Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. And a "coordination center" has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information, two officials said Tuesday. But defense and diplomatic officials in Washington and Baghdad told The Associated Press that U.S. commanders in Iraq knew nothing about Sunday's attack until it...

If we can't stop the Turks from invading Iraq, at least we can control their target selection. That appears to be the strategy this morning, as the Turks moved in and hit at rebel bases within the autonomous Kurdish area in northern Iraq. The Bush administration has walked a tightrope for months on the increasing provocations of the PKK and the inevitable response: The United States is providing Turkey with real-time intelligence that has helped the Turkish military target a series of attacks this month against Kurdish separatists holed up in northern Iraq, including a large airstrike on Sunday, according...

300 TURKISH TROOPS ENTER NORTHERN IRAQ OVERNIGHT -SENIOR IRAQI MILITARY SOURCE

Turkey launches biggest bombing raid on Kurdish rebels in Iraq · Woman killed as 50 planes target PKK guerrilla bases · Prime minister warns of further military action Ewen MacAskill in Washington Monday December 17, 2007 Guardian Turkey yesterday launched the biggest attack on Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, sending more than 50 warplanes to bomb suspected Kurdish insurgent bases inside Iraqi territory, accompanied by long-range artillery shelling. Kurdish officials reported at least one civilian fatality, a woman, and two others injured. The strike, carried out in the middle of the night, sent hundreds of families fleeing and...

Excerpt - ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey said dozens of its warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets as deep as 110 kilometres inside northern Iraq for three hours on Sunday, the largest aerial attack in years against the outlawed separatist group. Turkey's military chief said the U.S. gave intelligence and tacit approval for the raid. An Iraqi official said the planes attacked several villages, killing one woman. The rebels said two civilians and five rebels were killed. In the nighttime offensive, the fighter jets hit rebel positions close to the border with Turkey and in the Qandil mountains, which straddle the Iraq-Iran...

via translation - The Turkish army confirms that bombed targets Kurds in Iraq ANKARA - Turkish fighter aircraft bombed during the night from Saturday to Sunday Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, has confirmed the Turkish army in a news release on its website. The air raids were aimed "Zap regions, Hakurk and Avasin, and the massive Qandil," which serves as a hangout for Kurdish rebel PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), said the General Staff of the Turkish army in its press release. The shelling began to local 01H00 (23H00 GMT) and all aircraft returned to their base in local 04H15 (02H15...

BAGHDAD, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Kurdish officials insisted on Sunday that there had been no Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq, describing as baseless Ankara's claims that significant losses had been inflicted on Kurdish rebels. The Turkish military said on Saturday it had launched an "intensive intervention" to hit the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq's mountainous north. A Turkish military official said about 100 special forces troops had crossed into Iraq and that long-range artillery and up to six helicopters had bombed a PKK camp after spotting a group of 50-60 rebels 20 km (12 miles) inside the border....

Turkish-American Relations by: Heyecan Veziroglu, November 30, 2007 No one in a democratic society would question the importance of the power of lobbying and ideas. The careful observer of foreign affairs must be aware of the fact that some Turkish-Americans could have a major impact on the multibillion-dollar political advertising industry and on international trade. On November 16, 2007, at Washington Plaza Hotel in Washington D.C., some of the top minds in lobbying and policy-making explored how the public and private sector can work together to create new ways of thinking in leadership to have common goals. The Turkish-Americans requested...

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi officials say Turkish helicopter gunships have attacked villages inside Iraq.

Kurdish rebels have crossed into Iran to avoid Turkish offensive: ex-leader by Michel Moutot Sun Nov 11, 5:12 AM ET Thousands of Kurdish guerrillas have crossed the border into Iran to escape a threatened Turkish offensive against their mountain redoubts in northern Iraq, a former rebel leader said. When and if the Turkish troops arrive, they will only be "chasing shadows", Osman Ocalan, brother of jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, told AFP in an interview in his home in Koya in Iraq's northern Kurdish region. "I know that since last month thousands of PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) members have crossed...

TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose bases in north Iraq Turkey has threatened to attack, said on Friday it was open to a dialogue that could lead to its downing arms, a news agency close to the rebels reported. Turkey, like the United States and the European Union, condemns the PKK as a terrorist group and has always refused to talk to PKK guerrillas. It had no immediate response to the party's statement, carried by the Firat news agency. "We are open to dialogue on starting a process that would totally exclude weapons, based on a...

The U.S. and Turkey by: Heyecan Veziroglu, November 09, 2007 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lauded U.S.-Turkish relations, stating that he had a fruitful debate during his visit to the White House. He emphasized the vital importance of dialogue between the two countries. After PM Erdogan’s meeting with President Bush at the Oval Office on November 5, 2007, PM Erdogan said at the National Press Club that it was TGNA’s (Turkish Grand National Assembly) decision to fight terrorists. He added that 507 of the MPs said “Yes,” and 19 MPs said “No.” He said, “We are not on the...

Kurdish fighters on Sunday freed eight Turkish troops in northern Iraq two weeks after capturing them in an ambush inside Turkey, a PKK spokesman said. The release came before Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets President Bush on Monday in Washington to discuss a possible offensive against the Kurdish group. A spokesman for the group holding the soldiers, the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, told The Associated Press that the eight were freed Sunday morning near the border between Turkey and the Kurdish region in Iraq's north. "The eight were freed this morning at 7:30 and handed over to...

Turkey has closed its airspace to flights to and from northern Iraq, NTV television said on Thursday, as part of economic sanctions targeting groups supporting Kurdish militants operating in northern Iraq. NTV gave no source for its report and it was not immediately clear whether the reported ban would affect U.S. military planes operating between NATO member Turkey and Iraq. Ankara is furious with the autonomous Kurdish administration of northern Iraq for failing to crack down on PKK militants who are battling Turkish troops near the Turkish-Iraqi border.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American U2 reconnaissance planes have been flying over the Turkey-Iraq border to observe military movements, said three U.S. military sources Wednesday.Word of the flights comes a day before top-level meetings between U.S. and Turkish government officials and prior to a regional conference aimed at easing tensions between Ankara and Kurdish rebels across Turkey's border with Iraq. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed Wednesday that U.S. military and intelligence communities are sharing information with Turkey to help them fight members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, who have made cross-border attacks. "We are assisting by supplying them, the...

DERISHKIT, Iraq - Two Turkish jet fighters streaked across the mountain peaks near this border village Wednesday as part of an expanding military force gathered to pressure Kurdish rebels to abandon their hideouts in northern Iraq. ADVERTISEMENT Residents claimed the planes were on a bombing run to hit a site about four miles inside Iraq, but could offer no details to back up their assertion. If true, however, the airstrike would mark a notable escalation of Turkish tactics against the Kurdish rebels. The overflight came after three days of artillery shelling from inside Turkey at this area along the Zey-Gowra...

Turkish Troops Kill 64 Suspected Rebels Near Iraq Border Thursday , October 25, 2007 ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey is running out of patience and will not tolerate Kurdish rebels' use of Iraqi soil to launch terrorist attacks, President Abdullah Gul said Thursday. Turkey has threatened to stage an incursion into northern Iraq if Iraqi Kurds and U.S.-led coalition forces do not crack down on Kurdish rebels based there. Turkish troops have killed at least 64 suspects rebels this week, including more than 30 poised to attack a military unit on the border on Tuesday, Turkey's military said Thursday. A pair...

The immediate threat of military action may have lessened, but it is still a slow-motion train wreck. If the Kurds of northern Iraq do not quash the PKK, Turkey will and Turkey will be justified. But the fact that Turkey will be justified will in no way lessen the damage to long-term Turkish or Kurdish interests. JINSA has a long history with both the Kurds of northern Iraq and with Turkey - and we were not surprised to discover that in the period of American protection for the Kurds, Turkey emerged as the primary economic and social interlocutor for...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked positions of Kurdish rebels along the rugged Iraqi-Turkish border on Wednesday, the country's official Anatolia news agency reported. Several F-16 warplanes loaded with bombs took off from an air base in southeastern city of Diyarbakir, private Dogan news agency and local reporters said. Turkish artillery units had been shelling rebel positions Tuesday night in northern Iraq, a government official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The strikes were in retaliation for a rebel ambush on Sunday that killed 12 soldiers and...

CIZRE, Turkey - Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships reportedly pounded Kurdish rebel positions along the Turkey-Iraq border Wednesday, broadening military operations against insurgents amid persistent fears Turkey will launch a major offensive inside Iraq. Turkish Cabinet members and military generals held a six-hour meeting in Ankara to discuss a possible operation in northern Iraq, but decided to recommend the government take economic measures first to force cooperation by Iraqis against Kurdish rebels. The state-run Anatolia news agency reported that Turkish warplanes and attack helicopters bombed mountain paths used by rebels to cross the porous border from Iraq and stage hit-and-run...

The Turkish Armed Forces have entered North Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish militants, Yeni Safak newspaper reports. According to the source, the Turkish special task force is conducting an operation to back helicopters, F16 fighters and artillery strike camps of the PKK (Kurdistan Worker Party). The troops invaded the Iraqi territory by approximately 50 km. According to the Turkish military, up to 3,500 Kurdish rebels are deployed in the area. Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a military operation could be launched in North Iraq at any moment and Turkey would not ask for permission from the...