Turkey Presses Ahead With Iraq Offensive

Turkish forces pressed ahead with ground operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraq on Saturday. Two Turkish soldiers and at least 35 Kurdish rebels died in new fighting in northern Iraq today, the Turkish military said.

Turkish forces pressed ahead with ground operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraq that began earlier this week. It is Turkey's first major ground incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in nearly a decade.

A total of seven soldiers and at least 79 rebels have been killed in Iraq since Turkey launched a ground incursion late Thursday, according to the military.

The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, said it killed 15 troops on Saturday's clashes and was in possession of their bodies, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat reported, citing rebel spokesman Ozgur Gabar. It was not possible to independently confirm the conflicting claims of casualty tolls.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials expressed displeasure Saturday with Turkey's ground incursion into Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels, with Iraq's government spokesman suggesting Turkey take another approach and the Kurdish president warning the Turks not to target civilians.

The U.S.-backed Iraqi government said Turkey had assured it that the operation, Ankara's first major ground incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in nearly a decade, would target only rebels who have staged hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets from hideouts in northern Iraq.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraqis understood that Turkey faced threats from the fighters of the PKK, which has waged a battle for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for years, often using bases in northern Iraq.

"But military operations will not solve the PKK problem. Turkey has resorted to military options but this never resulted in a good thing," al-Dabbagh said at a news conference on reconstruction. "Turkey should adopt another type of solution."

Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded in a land mine blast on Saturday in the Turkish province of Bingol, nearly 190 miles from the border, local media said.

Two buses and five vans on Saturday ferried soldiers toward the Turkish border town of Cukurca, which lies north of the combat area, Dogan news agency reported. Vehicles used to carry ammunition were seen returning from the border area.

Two Turkish warplanes were seen flying toward Cukurca, Dogan said, but it was unclear whether they were on a bombing mission.

Further west, soldiers in Besta swept roads for possible land mines. Dozens of troops carrying assault rifles, light mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and sleeping mats patrolled near mountains with snow-covered peaks.

Supported by air power, Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq late Thursday in an offensive that marked a dramatic escalation in Turkey's fight with the rebel PKK, even though Turkish officials described the operation as limited.

The Turkish military said five troops and 24 Kurdish rebels were killed in clashes. At least 20 more rebels were killed by artillery and helicopter gunships, it said. Artillery units positioned near Cukurca could be heard firing shells across the border on Friday evening, Dogan agency reported.

The Iraqi government said Saturday that fewer than 1,000 Turkish troops had crossed the frontier. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Turkish commanders had assured Iraq that the "operation will be a limited one and it will not violate certain standards that they have set."

Al-Dabbagh said Iraq's president and prime minister had spoken to Turkish officials.

"We know the threats that Turkey is facing but military operations will not solve the PKK problem. Turkey has resorted to military options, but this never resulted in a good thing," al-Dabbagh said. He acknowledged that Turkey was "suffering from the terrorist PKK organization."

On Friday, a military officer of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq said on condition of anonymity that several hundred Turkish soldiers had crossed the border. The coalition has satellites as well as drones and other surveillance aircraft at its disposal.

Sky-Turk television said about 2,000 Turkish soldiers were in Iraq, operating against rebel camps about 2-2.5 miles in from the border. NTV television said a total of 10,000 soldiers were inside Iraq in an operation that had extended 6 miles past the frontier. The activity was reportedly occurring about 60 miles east of Cizre, a major town near the border with Iraq.

It was not possible to confirm independently the size or scope of the attack on the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. CNN-Turk television, citing Turkish security officials, said the operation could last two weeks.

The advance was the first confirmed Turkish military ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Turkey's army is believed to have carried out unacknowledged "hot pursuits" in recent years, with small groups of troops staying in Iraq for as little as a few hours or a day.

Turkey staged about two-dozen attacks in Iraq during the rule of Saddam, who conducted brutal campaigns against Iraqi Kurds. Some Turkish offensives, including several in the late 1990s, involved tens of thousands of soldiers. Results were mixed; rebels suffered combat losses but regrouped after Turkish forces withdrew.

The PKK militants are fighting for autonomy in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey and have carried out attacks on Turkish targets from bases in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The conflict started in 1984 and has claimed as many as 40,000 lives.

Turkey's government has complained that Iraqi and U.S. authorities were not doing enough to stop guerrilla operations. The Turkish air force has been staging air raids on PKK forces in the north since December with the help of intelligence provided by the U.S., a NATO ally.

"We continue to express our absolute solidarity with Turkey about the PKK. This is a common enemy of the United States and Turkey," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday in Washington. "It is also an enemy of the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government because the Iraqi territory cannot be used for terror, should not be used for terrorist attacks against Turkey."

Rice, however, said: "We've also been very clear, though, that stability and progress for Iraq is in the interest of Turkey. And so, everything should keep in mind that nothing should be done to destabilize what is a fragile but improving situation in Iraq."

Iraq's Oil Ministry, meanwhile, confirmed that oil exports to turkey would flow unimpeded. A pipeline that runs into Turkey was often halted in past years due to sabotage, but is now pumping more than 300,000 barrels per day.

"Turkish military operations will not affect pumping oil through this pipeline as both Iraqi and Turkish governments are keen not to halt it," Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Kurdish President Massoud Barzani's office warned in a statement that the regional government would not stand by if the Turks struck civilians.

"The regional government of Kurdistan will not be a part of the conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK fighters. But at the same time we stress that if the Turkish military targets any Kurdish civilian citizens or any civilian structures then we will order a large-scale resistance," it said.

Tariq Jawhar, a spokesman for the National Assembly of Kurdistan, a regional body, said that "we want the Iraqi federal government and the U.S. to ... work hard to stop this aggression and to seek peaceful negotiation to solve the problem."

"Such military operations are considered a clear violation of the federal Iraqi territory," he said.

Volley Of Rockets Or Mortars Targets U.S.-Protected Green Zone In Iraq

Rockets or mortars hit the U.S.-protected Green Zone early Saturday, just a day after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to extend its cease-fire by another six months.

Starting about 6:15 a.m., nearly 10 blasts could be heard in the sprawling area along the Tigris River that houses the U.S. and British embassies, the Iraqi government headquarters and thousands of American troops.

Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed the Green Zone was hit by indirect fire - the military's term for a rocket or mortar attack - but could not immediately provide more details.

It was the fourth time this week that U.S. outposts in Baghdad appeared to be the targets of rocket or mortar attacks, killing at least six people and wounding both Iraqis and Americans, including at least two U.S. troops.

The flurry of attacks has followed a substantial lull in such assaults as security has increased and violence around the capital has dropped over the last half-year.

As the U.S. praised al-Sadr for extending his cease-fire it also pledged to pursue the breakaway militias, which it calls "special groups."

"Those who dishonor the Sadr pledge are regrettably tarnishing both the name and the honor of the movement," it said.

The Al-Sadr cease-fire was extended until the 15th of Shaban, a reference to the Islamic month before Ramadan, which would mean mid-August.

Along with an increase in U.S. troop levels and a move by Sunni fighters to turn against their former al Qaeda in Iraq allies, the cease-fire has been credited with reducing war deaths among Iraqis by nearly 70 percent in six months, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

Extending it has several advantages for al-Sadr, who launched two major uprisings against coalition forces in 2004.

It enables al-Sadr to present himself as a shrewd political figure interested in reducing violence for all Iraqis and perhaps as a more popular alternative to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the country's largest Shiite party and a U.S. partner. It also makes al-Sadr a player that the U.S. must continue to handle respectfully while he keeps the peace.

Al-Sadr's announcement came two years to the day since the bombing of a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra that unleashed Mahdi Army fury. Most Iraqis are now loathe to return to the worst days of sectarian violence when the monthly body count sometimes topped 3,000.

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