PKK assault triggers ground operations

At least 24 soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded yesterday when militants from the terrorist PKK launched simultaneous attacks on security posts in the Cukurca district of the southeastern province of Hakkari on the Iraqi border, triggering an immediate response from the Turkish military. Turkish troops crossed the border and moved several kilometers into Iraq in pursuit of the perpetrators of the vicious attack, in which at least 21 PKK militants were also killed. The Air Force also launched an operation yesterday as fighter jets bombed PKK camps in Qandil, Hınere, Zap and Hakurk in northern Iraq, according to reports. Clashes between PKK militants and Turkish troops who entered northern Iraq from three different points were still underway, while reports indicated that commando units were being dropped into northern Iraq by helicopters. Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel, accompanied by force commanders, flew to Hakkari yesterday morning right after the stories of the deadly attack broke. Some 200 PKK members launched a series of simultaneous attacks against eight police and military targets in Cukurca around 1 a.m. yesterday. The assault began with a diversionary attack against police and gendarmerie stations in central Cukurca. Shortly afterward, PKK members launched another assault against the Kekliktepe Gendarmerie Border Outpost 15 kilometers away from the district center, where the bulk of the fighting took place. Ground reinforcements and attack helicopters were also sent to aid the border units, but 21 troops were killed in the ensuing clashes, while another two heavily wounded troops later died in hospital. The PKK militants then began to disengage at dawn and started withdrawing over the Iraqi border. The attack represents the Turkish military's fourth deadliest engagement with the PKK and comes only a day after another five police officers and four civilians lost their lives in the southeastern province of Bitlis in a PKK attack.