BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government demanded for the first time that Turkey immediately withdraw from northern Iraq, warning Tuesday it feared an ongoing incursion could lead to clashes with the official forces of the semiautonomous Kurdish region.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation would only end "once its goal has been reached."
Turkish troops have seized seven rebel camps and have pushed more than 12 miles into Iraq, a Turkish government official and military official who are familiar with the incursion plans told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Earlier Turkish media reports had put Turkish troops nine miles inside northern Iraq.
Turkish media reports have said that thousands of troops are inside Iraq.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the first confirmed Turkish military ground operation in Iraq in about a decade was a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
"The Iraqi Cabinet has denounced the Turkish army's incursion," al-Dabbagh said after the government met to discuss the issue. "The Cabinet calls on Turkey to withdraw its troops immediately and stop the military intervention."..........
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