A Turkish soldier holds his machine gun atop an armored vehicle during a patrol in the mountains near the Iraq border in the province of Şırnak.
Operations also continued near the Iraqi border in Hakkari province and in Tunceli in eastern Anatolia, located far from the border.
Three soldiers have been martyred in the ongoing operation in Şırnak and another one died in Tunceli in a landmine explosion, bringing the total number of casualties in the past 24 hours to four. The military has confirmed 15 PKK terrorists were killed in the recent operations, while media reports said the total number of PKK terrorists killed was 17.
The operation in Şırnak came after at least 100 PKK terrorists were trapped in the Cudi Mountain area after troops blocked exit routes to northern Iraq on Monday. Smoke from artillery fire could be seen above the area’s rugged hills, while at least one Sikorsky transport helicopter dropped off troops and a convoy of about 40 military trucks headed for the Iraqi border.
The military campaign inside Turkey comes as up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery, warplanes and combat helicopters, have been amassed along the Iraqi border in preparation for a possible cross-border incursion into northern Iraq, where some 3,000 PKK terrorists are believed to be hiding.
Turkey says it has attempted through all diplomatic channels to force the Iraqi government and the United States to crack down on the PKK camps in northern Iraq and that it is now considering a military operation to eliminate the PKK presence in the area. But the issue will still be on agenda when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Ankara this Friday for talks. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also due to visit Washington on Nov. 5 to have talks with President George W. Bush.
From Nov. 2-4, an international conference on Iraq held in İstanbul is also expected to focus on the tension at the Turkish-Iraqi border. Representatives from Iraq and Turkey, other countries neighboring Iraq, permanent members of the UN Security Council and the G8 group of countries will attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, in Şırnak the Governor’s Office has said security forces have arrested five members of the PKK, including university students studying medicine who wanted to cross the border with Iraq to help treat the PKK terrorists wounded in the clashes with the security forces.
Hostage soldiers
Eight soldiers who were taken hostage by the PKK after a deadly attack in Hakkari that killed 12 other troops were reported to have been released on Monday, but government officials said there was no new information on their status yet.
“There is no new development,” Erdoğan told reporters in response to a question. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay also said there was no new information concerning the status of the soldiers in question
