Iraq Military Assaults Turkey

Turkey has shrugged off pleas from Baghdad and its own NATO allies to cut short its anti-guerrilla campaign in northern Iraq, ferrying in more men, food and supplies to augment more than 10,000 troops used in a May 14 offensive. State-run Anatolian news agency said more than 1,300 Kurdish fighters had been killed so far. A Germany-based news agency said the Turkish military had suffered "heavy losses."

Turkish troops have killed 44 Kurdish rebels in retaliation for the loss of eight of their own soldiers in a mass offensive into Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq, military officials said Saturday. The officials said the clashes, involving about 5,000 Turkish troops and backed by airstrikes by U.S.-made Cobra helicopters and F-16 jet fighters, took place overnight near Turkey's border with Iraq.

Turkish soldiers, tanks and jets crossed into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels from mountain hide-outs used to stage attacks on sites in southeastern Turkey. The troops began streaming into Iraq at the border town of Habur, Turkish TV stations reported. Jets bombed at least five rebel bases, according to the official Anatolia news agency. The government gave no casualty figures. The assault was the latest in a series of attacks targeting the autonomy-seeking Turkish Kurdish rebels.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Sunday that Turkish forces had ended an incursion into northern Iraq to strike at separatist Kurdish rebels loyal to jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan. The operation was designed to further weaken the guerrillas and coincided with an official call on Ocalan's forces to surrender to Turkish authorities under a planned partial amnesty to be passed by parliament after elections in April.

Prime Minister Tansu Ciller of Turkey assured President Clinton on Wednesday that Turkish troops will soon end their hunt for Kurds in northern Iraq, but she offered no specific timetable, U.S. officials said. Briefing reporters after the two leaders' 45-minute White House meeting, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke said "military security" precluded any discussion of an exact time for withdrawal of the Turkish expedition.

As many as 35,000 Turkish troops backed by tanks and jet fighters launched a three-pronged attack across the undefended border with northern Iraq in pursuit of separatist Kurdish rebels. A government spokesman called it the biggest military operation in the history of the Turkish republic. Turkish jets flew 33 sorties, pounding suspected bases of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, east of the Iraqi border city of Zakhu.

Turkish troops who poured into Iraq eight days ago, hoping to crush Kurdish rebel bases in their biggest military mission of modern times, say many guerrillas have given them the slip and headed for the hills. Turkey poured 35,000 soldiers into northern Iraq on March 20 in a land-and-air operation that targeted an estimated 2,500 rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighting for a homeland in southeast Turkey.

The military said Monday that it carried out two cross-border air attacks last week on separatist Kurds in northern Iraq, killing 92 guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party. The attacks were the sixth and seventh air raids on northern Iraq within a month, the military said.

Turkish troops pursuing rebel Kurds fought fierce battles around northern Iraq's Metina Mountain, and warplanes reportedly hit three villages at its base. Fewer than 500 Iraqi Kurds lived in the villages, and most of them had fled by Thursday. About 35,000 troops backed by tanks and warplanes are taking part in a major Turkish operation to flush out guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has sought autonomy for Kurds in southeastern Turkey since 1984.

The military acknowledged Friday that Kurdish rebels downed two helicopters in northern Iraq with missiles, killing 13 soldiers. The crashes had been blamed on mechanical failures. Gen. Erol Ozkasnak, secretary-general of Turkey's joint chiefs of staff, said the rebels used Russian-made SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles from the former Soviet republic of Armenia. One helicopter was downed this week, the other last month.

The military acknowledged Friday that Kurdish rebels downed two helicopters in northern Iraq with missiles, killing 13 soldiers. The crashes had been blamed on mechanical failures. Gen. Erol Ozkasnak, secretary-general of Turkey's joint chiefs of staff, said the rebels used Russian-made SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles from the former Soviet republic of Armenia. One helicopter was downed this week, the other last month.

Turkey has shrugged off pleas from Baghdad and its own NATO allies to cut short its anti-guerrilla campaign in northern Iraq, ferrying in more men, food and supplies to augment more than 10,000 troops used in a May 14 offensive. State-run Anatolian news agency said more than 1,300 Kurdish fighters had been killed so far. A Germany-based news agency said the Turkish military had suffered "heavy losses."

Turkish soldiers, tanks and jets crossed into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels from mountain hide-outs used to stage attacks on sites in southeastern Turkey. The troops began streaming into Iraq at the border town of Habur, Turkish TV stations reported. Jets bombed at least five rebel bases, according to the official Anatolia news agency. The government gave no casualty figures. The assault was the latest in a series of attacks targeting the autonomy-seeking Turkish Kurdish rebels.

Seen from a Turkish Blackhawk helicopter, the mountain border between Turkey and Iraq looks all but uncontrollable. Rugged peaks, deep ravines and mountainsides with more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese have for years provided perfect cover for Turkey's die-hard rebels, the highly mobile guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

Dripping wet and weary from five weeks of operations against mountain bases of hostile Kurdish rebels, 20,000 Turkish troops Tuesday pulled out of northern Iraq as Turkey partially withdrew its forces there. Turkish television showed commandos and armored columns pouring back over the border overnight, with troops kissing commanders' hands after trudging across pontoon bridges or cheering at border posts before devouring hot bowls of soup.

Prime Minister Tansu Ciller of Turkey assured President Clinton on Wednesday that Turkish troops will soon end their hunt for Kurds in northern Iraq, but she offered no specific timetable, U.S. officials said. Briefing reporters after the two leaders' 45-minute White House meeting, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke said "military security" precluded any discussion of an exact time for withdrawal of the Turkish expedition.

More than 50 Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes blitzed a Kurdish rebel camp deep inside Iraq on Friday with a barrage of 500-pound to 2,000-pound bombs, the Turkish armed forces said. The raid was the biggest in Turkey's 10-year-old struggle with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Stalinist group whose aims include an independent state for the 20 million ethnic Kurds in the mountains straddling Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. "We will bring terrorism (Kurdish separatism) under control in 1994.

Turkish troops have killed 44 Kurdish rebels in retaliation for the loss of eight of their own soldiers in a mass offensive into Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq, military officials said Saturday. The officials said the clashes, involving about 5,000 Turkish troops and backed by airstrikes by U.S.-made Cobra helicopters and F-16 jet fighters, took place overnight near Turkey's border with Iraq.

Turkish troops who poured into Iraq eight days ago, hoping to crush Kurdish rebel bases in their biggest military mission of modern times, say many guerrillas have given them the slip and headed for the hills. Turkey poured 35,000 soldiers into northern Iraq on March 20 in a land-and-air operation that targeted an estimated 2,500 rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighting for a homeland in southeast Turkey.

Turkish troops pursuing rebel Kurds fought fierce battles around northern Iraq's Metina Mountain, and warplanes reportedly hit three villages at its base. Fewer than 500 Iraqi Kurds lived in the villages, and most of them had fled by Thursday. About 35,000 troops backed by tanks and warplanes are taking part in a major Turkish operation to flush out guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has sought autonomy for Kurds in southeastern Turkey since 1984.