Turkey targets Kurdish rebels with airstrikes

TURKISH forces yesterday pounded Kurdish rebel positions on the third day of a major offensive as officials said they had killed 49 insurgents in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

"A total of 49 terrorists were rendered ineffective over the last two days," said the General Staff in a statement posted on its website.

The operation was carried out in the southeastern Hakkari province, it said.

The Turkish military launched air and land operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after the separatist group's guerrillas killed 24 soldiers and wounded 18 along the Iraqi border on Wednesday, the army's biggest losses since 1993.

Some 10,000 troops on the ground are involved in Turkey's operations, backed by jets and helicopters, inside Turkey and across the border. Military officials did not say how many troops had entered Iraq.

The army statement said "operations continue in a few areas across the border (northern Iraq) and two separate areas inside the country" in an attempt to prevent PKK actions targeting Turkish units.

In an earlier announcement, the Turkish military said the operations were mainly concentrated inside the country.

An AFP photographer in the southeastern town of Cizre, less than 70km from the Iraqi frontier, said local residents saw a convoy of 43 military trucks returning from the north of Iraq where PKK members are holed up.

Turkey is seeking support from its neighbours and Europe for its military campaign.

"The PKK is not only Turkey's enemy but also Europe's," Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Saturday.

"The security of Paris, Brussels, London begins from Sirnak, Hakkari" provinces in Turkey's southeast, said Bagis.

"We must fight against terrorism all together."

The attacks by Kurdish rebels have also mobilised Turkey's civil society.

Representatives of non-governmental organisations, business associations and professional chambers across Turkey are readying to meet with the president, prime minister and opposition party leaders, Turkish media reported.

Others in the southeast are expected to go to the Qandil mountains in an attempt to convince the PKK to lay down arms, it added.

Earlier, the military said the operations were mainly concentrated in the southeast but it did not specify how many troops had entered Iraq.

But the conflict has disrupted life in northern Iraq, preventing inhabitants from moving around for fear of Turksi bombardments.

Residents of Shila Dizah in Iraq's northernmost province of Dohuk cannot access their farms in the region.

AFP