Flag-draped coffins flown to Turkey for burial; Turkey troops enter Iraq

Turkey paid its last respects Thursday to 24 soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels on the Iraq border as the Turkish air force continued a second day of an air and ground offensive against Kurdish rebels across the Iraqi border, the state-run television said.

Turkish F-16 jets took off to target the hideouts of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as military activity at an air base in the mainly Kurdish Diyarbakir province was very intensive throughout the night.

“A large-scale land operation has began in five separate spots in northern Iraq with 22 battalions with air support,” the general staff said in a written statement on its website.

Press reports estimated that between 200 and 250 Kurdish rebels entrenched in the mountains of northern Iraq crossed into Turkey late Tuesday to carry out the raids on military posts, which left 24 dead and 18 wounded.

As the Turkish army said Thursday it had sent hundreds of troops into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels in response to Wednesday’s ambushes that killed 24 soldiers.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said on Thursday it would “welcome” Turkish forces who launched a ground incursion into north Iraq, where the rebels maintain bases.

“If they want to come, let them come,” Dozdar Hammo, a PKK spokesman, told AFP. “We will welcome them here.”

Hammo said no Turkish troops had yet crossed the border into north Iraq, but said Ankara’s jets were hovering overhead.

Earlier, Hammo said Turkish jets had bombed the Haftani area, north of Dohuk city in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Iraq condemned on Thursday the Kurdish militant assault and said it would cooperate with Turkey on maintaining security to prevent such attacks in the future.

“The Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional Government are committed to maintaining border security and security cooperation with the Turkish government to prevent such acts from being repeated,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, flag-draped coffins of the slain soldiers were being flown to several cities across the country on Thursday for burial.

Several newspapers condemned the attack in banner headlines against a black background.

“24 martyrs, 74 million wounded,” headlined daily Posta, saying that the killing of the soldiers hurt the entire population.

Yeni Safak newspaper’s banner headline read: “Endless Pain.”

United States President Barack Obama also condemned on late Wednesday what he described as an “outrageous terrorist attack” by PKK Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

“The United States will continue our strong cooperation with the Turkish government as it works to defeat the terrorist threat from the PKK and to bring peace, stability and prosperity to all the people of southeast Turkey,” Obama said in a statement.

Spontaneous demonstrations were held Wednesday across Turkey. A group of taxi drivers in Istanbul closed the road to traffic in protest at the attacks. Music concerts were also cancelled, the Associated Press reported.

President Abdullah Gul, who recently made a morale-boosting visit to border troops, vowed Turkey’s revenge for the attacks would be bitter.

“Turkey will not be shaken by terror... We will do whatever we can do to finish this,” President Abdullah Gul said in televised remarks.

In fresh violence on Thursday, suspected Kurdish rebels wounded three soldiers in a roadside bomb attack near the town of Altinova in southeastern Mus province, Governor Ali Cinar. The three were in stable condition, Cinar said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to fight against the PKK but said the bloody offensive would not change his government’s determination to solve the Kurdish conflict.

“As of now, wide reaching operations, including hot pursuit operations, are continuing in the region within the framework of international law,” Erdogan told a news conference after he convened an emergency meeting with the interior and defense ministers, along with intelligence chiefs and top generals on Wednesday.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since the rebels took up arms for autonomy in the country’s Kurdish-dominated southeast in 1984. Kurds make up around 20 percent of Turkey’s population.

Turkey’s parliament was due to discuss further measures in a closed doors session Thursday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, called his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, Wednesday to offer his condolences, NTV television reported.

Davutoglu told Zebari, who visited Ankara last week, it was not the time for condemnation but for taking concrete steps to stop the PKK violence.

Ankara has repeatedly urged the Iraqi government not to allow its territory to be used as a springboard by the PKK for attacks on Turkey.

Last week, Zebari had said the problem could be resolved in a way that would not poison Turkish-Iraqi relations.

Clashes between the PKK and the army have escalated since the summer.

Five police and four civilians were killed in a landmine explosion in the southeast on Tuesday.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.