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Kurdish rebels 'kill 24 Turkish soldiers' | Kurdish rebels 'kill 24 Turkish soldiers' |
(40 minutes later) | |
At least 24 Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels at several police and army posts in south-east Turkey, reports say. | At least 24 Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels at several police and army posts in south-east Turkey, reports say. |
The attacks, in the mainly Kurdish province of Hakkari, are thought to have inflicted the biggest loss on Turkish security forces in years. | |
In response, Turkish forces have launched an incursion into northern Iraq where the rebels are based. | |
President Abdullah Gul has vowed a "great revenge". | |
The attacks come a day after a blast in the south-east Bitlis province killed five police officers and three others. | |
The area has recently seen a spike in violence by Kurdish rebels - to which Turkey has responded with a police crackdown on suspected rebel sympathisers and air strikes on Kurdish sites in northern Iraq. | |
Rebels are seeking greater autonomy in the country's Kurdish-dominated south-east, and have killed dozens of members of the country's security forces, and at least 17 civilians, since mid-July. | Rebels are seeking greater autonomy in the country's Kurdish-dominated south-east, and have killed dozens of members of the country's security forces, and at least 17 civilians, since mid-July. |
Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict since 1984. | Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict since 1984. |
Army responds | |
The latest violence - thought to be simultaneous overnight attacks - took place in several locations in Cukurca and the district of Yuksekova overnight on Tuesday to Wednesday. | |
The ministry of interior said 24 soldiers had died and 18 were injured. | |
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility from the Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK, reports said. | |
Security sources say Turkish planes are bombing Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq, while local news sources say soldiers have also entered the area. | |
"Turkey will not be shaken by terror... We will do whatever we can do to finish this," President Gul said in televised remarks quoted by AFP. | |
The prime minister and foreign minister had both cancelled overseas trips in response to the bloodshed, reports said. | |
In response to a mid-August rebel attack in Cukurca which killed nine Turkish soldiers, Turkish jets bombed Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq, killing up to 160 rebels, Turkish officials said. | |
Correspondents say the latest rebel attacks will add to pressure on the government to devise a more effective strategy for combating the PKK. | |
The government has already said it will ask the police to play a bigger role in counter-insurgency, but this idea has been challenged by critics who argue that the police are no better equipped to tackle the PKK than the army is. | The government has already said it will ask the police to play a bigger role in counter-insurgency, but this idea has been challenged by critics who argue that the police are no better equipped to tackle the PKK than the army is. |
The BBC's Jonathan Head, in Istanbul, says there is little talk now of renewing the so-called "democratic opening", an initiative from two years ago, which aimed to end the conflict in the south-east by expanding the rights of the Kurdish minority. | The BBC's Jonathan Head, in Istanbul, says there is little talk now of renewing the so-called "democratic opening", an initiative from two years ago, which aimed to end the conflict in the south-east by expanding the rights of the Kurdish minority. |