BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Turkey will not set a timetable for the withdrawal of troops fighting Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq, a Turkish envoy said on Wednesday after crisis talks in Baghdad, despite U.S. pressure for a quick resolution.
Turkey's military General Staff said another 77 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels had been killed in heavy fighting since Tuesday night, taking the death toll among the rebels to 230 since the operation began a week ago.
"Our objective is clear, our mission is clear and there is no timetable until ... those terrorist bases are eliminated," senior Turkish envoy Ahmet Davutoglu said after talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.
Thousands of Turkish troops crossed the border last Thursday to root out PKK fighters who have used mountainous northern Iraq as a base for their fight for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey since the 1990s.
No comments:
Post a Comment