Hundreds of Turkish commandos backed by helicopter gunships attacked Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on Thursday, officials said, in an offensive to avenge the deaths of 24 soldiers a day earlier. Turkish security officials estimated their forces, numbering about 1,000 inside Iraq, had killed 21 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It was unclear how deep into Iraq this counter-offensive could go.
The military said it had put troops from 22 battalions into the field for ground attacks in five different areas on either side of the border, and it had also launched air strikes. Turkey's leaders have vowed revenge after one of the worst losses of life suffered by the army since the separatist insurgency began in 1984, when PKK guerrillas mounted a series of deadly night-time raids on army outposts in Turkey's mountainous south-east on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan confirmed an initial campaign against the PKK militants had begun, but said the theatre of operations was limited to specific areas. "Air and ground operation are underway; our aim is to take the first step in the designated co-ordinates," Erdogan said. There is speculation that the operation could herald a full-blown incursion, as happened in 2008 when some 10,000 Turkish troops swept into northern Iraq.
Such a prospect adds to concern over instability in the region. US troops are due to withdraw from Iraq this year and mutual neighbour Syria is in the grip of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
In Cukurca, one of the districts attacked by the PKK, it was eerily quiet on Thursday, with little sign of military movement apart from half a dozen helicopters passing overhead. In the south-eastern city of Van, soldiers carried Turkish flag-draped coffins one by one on to waiting military planes and helicopters to be taken to funerals across the country.