Feb 22, 2008 3:00 am US/Pacific
Turkey Launches Ground Operation In Iraq
BAGHDAD (CBS News) ―
Turkish troops have launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of separatist Kurdish rebels, the military said Friday - a move that dramatically escalates Turkey's conflict with the militants.
The ground operation started after Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed suspected rebel targets on Thursday, the military said on its Web site.
"After the successful bombing, a cross-border ground incursion backed by the Air Force started at 1900 (Noon Eastern)" on Thursday, it said.
Turkey's private NTV television network reported that 10,000 troops were taking part in the operation, and that soldiers had moved six miles inside Iraqi territory. The network did not cite a source for its information.
Dogan News Agency reported that the Habur border crossing, a major conduit for trade between Iraq and Turkey, was closed to vehicle traffic.
U.S. military officials said Friday they understood the Turkish incursion "is an operation of limited duration" specifically targeting Kurdish rebels.
Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. spokesman in Iraq, said the military had received assurances from its NATO ally Turkey that it would do everything possible to avoid "collateral damage to innocent civilians or Kurdish infrastructure."
He said the Turkish operation was specifically targeting members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
"Multi-National Forces-Iraq is aware Turkish ground forces have entered into northern Iraq, for what we understand is an operation of limited duration to specifically target PKK terrorists in that region," Smith said in an e-mailed statement.
"The United States continues to support Turkey's right to defend itself from the terrorist activities of the PKK and has encouraged Turkey to use all available means, to include diplomacy and close coordination with the Government of Iraq to ultimately resolve this issue," he added.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani late Thursday and gave him information about the goals of the operation, Gul's office said. Gul also invited Talabani to visit Turkey.
The military said its target was PKK rebels and that it does not want to harm civilians "and other local groups that do not act in enmity against the Turkish Armed Forces."
Regardless of its duration, Turkey's actions were likely to spark resentment in Iraq, where officials have repeatedly said they would reign in Kurdish rebels who launch cross-border raids on Turkey.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey visited the Turkish capital Ankara last week for meetings with officials. He said America was "committed to stand side by side with Turkey" against the Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, as well as Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda.
Turkey has recently bombed Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq after Washington shared intelligence about the positions of the rebels in the area.
The U.S. and Iraq have urged Ankara to use restraint in dealing with the rebels, but Turkey complains that Iraq's Kurdish leaders - who run the area of northern Iraq along the border semi-autonomously - have done too little to halt attacks.
CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey in Baghdad reports Turkey's incursion runs the risk of involving soldiers in clashes with Iraqi Kurdish forces if it continues for any length of time, or expands beyond border areas.
The Kurdish Pesh Merga forces, who Pizzey says are both well-trained and highly motivated, have warned in the past that they would retaliate if Turkish forces attack Kurdish villages.
Pizzey adds that any clash between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish forces could also prove problematic for the American military, as the U.S. is morally, if not legally bound to help Iraq defend its sovereignty.
In other developments: - A U.S. Marine was killed Thursday in fighting in Anbar province west of Baghdad, the military announced. Three soldiers were also killed Tuesday night in a roadside bombing in northwestern Baghdad, one soldier was killed and three were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the northwestern city of Mosul, and a roadside bombing killed a soldier assigned to Multi-National Division-Center, which is responsible for territory south of Baghdad. Police and morgue officials also said a grave with 15 bodies was found in an orchard elsewhere in the same province.
- A bomb hidden under a cart exploded in downtown Baghdad on Friday, killing two civilians and wounding six, police said. The cart was left near a building, and the explosives apparently were detonated by remote-control at about 7:30 a.m., police said, giving the casualty toll. Three cars parked nearby were damaged.
- A booby-trapped car being towed by police blew up in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing two policemen and wounding four others, police said. Police said they were removing the car after it was found parked near a market pockmarked with bullet holes and with bloodstained seats. The explosion occurred about 8 a.m. as it was being pulled into the parking lot of the local police headquarters, officials said. Tikrit is 80 miles north of Baghdad. The police officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
- If there was a bright point amid the week's violence, it came as Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, seen at left on a poster carried by supporters, announced Friday that he would extend a cease-fire order to his Shiite Mahdi Army by another six months, giving Iraq a chance to continue its fragile recovery from brutal sectarian violence.
The decision was revealed in a message read by clerics during prayer services.
"According to an order by Sayyid Muqtada, activities of the Mahdi Army will be extended ... for another six-month period," al-Sadr's aide Hazim al-Aaraji said, using an honorific during his sermon at the Kazimiyah mosque in Baghdad.
The cease-fire has been one of three important factors that have helped reduce violence since mid-2007. The two others are the influx of thousands of U.S. troops last summer, and emergence of Sunni-dominated groups that are fighting against al Qaeda in Iraq.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
