Turkey launches air and ground offensive into Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey launched an air and ground offensive into Iraq after members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) killed 26 security officers on Wednesday, October 19, in one of the deadliest attacks on Turkish security forces in years.

Turkish authorities did not immediately confirm the incursion. Reuters says military units crossed the border and are chasing PKK rebels inside Iraq.

There were reportedly intermittent clashes between the troops, who advanced some 3-4 kilometers into Iraqi territory and the PKK rebels in the border area near Çukurca in Hakkari province. PKK members have been using Iraq as a launch pad for attacks on Turkish targets in a war for autonomy in Turkey's Southeast.

The private Cihan news agency says Turkish warplanes that took off from Diyarbakır are striking at PKK bases in northern Iraq.

Recently, Turkey's parliament passed a bill extending permission, as it has done several times since 2007, for the Turkish military to mount cross-border operations against members of the PKK in northern Iraq during the coming year. Turkish air and artillery operations against suspected PKK members in the Kandil Mountains have intensified since August. The strikes were ordered after a break of more than a year in retaliation for an increase in PKK attacks on security forces inside Turkey, Today’s Zaman reported.