Turkey invades Iraq as EU and US call for restraint

Last updated at 09:09 25 February 2008


Up to 10,000 Turkish troops backed by tanks, attack helicopters and warplanes crossed into northern Iraq yesterday to hunt out and kill Kurdish separatist rebels.

The operation is the first involving troops in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein nearly five years ago and raised immediate concerns it could trigger a wider conflict with the American-backed Iraqi Kurds.

At least two Turkish soldiers were killed and eight injured in the first gun battles with militants, officials of the targeted PKK rebel group claimed last night.

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Turkey has invaded Northern Iraq

Turkey has invaded Northern Iraq

Turkish television showed dozens of tanks moving at high speed near the border and claimed troops had moved 16 miles inside Iraq.

The U.S., Britain and other EU countries urged restraint and called on Turkey, which is seeking EU membership, to confine operations to "precise targeting" of rebels.

"Turkey should refrain from taking any disproportionate military action and respect human rights," said EU spokesman Krisztina Nagy.

A senior U.S. State Department official said the land incursion was "not the greatest news".

Turkey says it has the right under international law to strike at the rebels.

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Turkey has invaded Northern Iraq

Soldiers are on the ground in the north of the country

It blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the group began an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in south-east Turkey in 1984.

It claims some 3,000 PKK rebels are based in Iraq.

The Turkish government informed Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, of the incursion after it began.

The Iraqi government has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution.

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