Pentagon urged Turkey to limit operation in northern Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish troops have crossed into northern Iraq in their hunt for Kurdish PKK guerrillas, the military said on Friday, but the United States and the European Union urged Ankara to keep the campaign limited.



The White House said the United States had been informed in advance of the incursion and urged Turkey to limit the operation to "precise targeting" of the PKK rebels hiding there.



Turkish TV said 3,000 to 10,000 soldiers had entered Iraq, but Iraq's foreign minister and a senior military official with coalition forces based in Baghdad denied it was a major operation, saying only a few hundred troops were involved.



The European Union repeated its call for Turkey, which is seeking EU membership, to refrain from any disproportionate military action.



"The Turkish Armed Forces, which attach great importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and stability, will return home in the shortest time possible after its goals have been achieved," the General Staff said in a statement posted on its Web site.



The General Staff did not specify the size of the operation.



A military source based in southeast Turkey said: "Thousands of troops have crossed the border and thousands more are waiting at the border to join them if necessary."



A Turkish army statement said: "It has been understood from preliminary information that the terrorists have suffered heavy losses under long-range weapons fire and air strikes." It said that 24 Kurdish rebels had been killed in clashes, and at least another 20 by artillery fire and rounds from helicopter gunships.



A PKK spokesman said rebels were battling Turkish troops. "There are severe clashes. Two Turkish soldiers have been killed and eight wounded. There are no PKK casualties," Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the PKK said from an undisclosed location in northern Iraq.



It was not possible to independently verify his statement, Reuters reports.