By Xinhua
Ankara : Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on Saturday that Turkey launched a cross-border ground operation in the north of Iraq to fight against the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah al-Bashir after their talks, Babacan reiterated that Turkey attached importance to territorial integrity and political unity of Iraq.
He, meanwhile, revealed that five soldiers lost their lives during the operations.
“Turkish General Staff made necessary statements regarding the operation and will continue to do so,” he added.
For his part, Al-Bashir said that terrorism, which hindered economic and social development, should be condemned with strongest terms possible.
Earlier in the day, Turkey’s semi-official Anatolia news agency reported that Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have been shelling the PKK camps in Qandil Mountain within the scope of the ground operation launched in the north of Iraq.
Turkish sources were quoted as saying that planes, artillery troops and helicopters bombed terrorist camps starting early Saturday morning, and many PKK terrorists were rendered ineffective.
Security measures have been tightened in settlement units in the region, mainly southeastern province of Diyarbakir, said the sources.
The Turkish military General Staff announced in a statement on Friday that the TSK launched a cross-border ground operation into north of Iraq as of 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Thursday following successful artillery bombardment, which was backed by air forces jets.
The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast of the country. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.