The Turkish General Staff said Friday that Turkish jets opened fire on a group of militants of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) as they were about to infiltrate in Turkey from northern part of Iraq on Thursday night to stage "acts of terrorism."
"A large group of terrorists was neutralized" during the operation on Thursday night which also involved the use of artillery, General Staff's chief spokesman Metin Gerak told a press conference.
The raid came after Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a meeting of security chiefs to discuss fresh measures against the PKK rebels after they had carried out one deadly attack in Hakkari province last Friday and the other deadly attack in Diyarbakir province on Wednesday.
Gerak also said that Turkey killed 43 PKK terrorists since Sept. 26, while "ten terrorists, majority of who are aged between 15 and 24, have surrendered to security forces so far."
He added that 21 military personnel and one village guard also lost their lives in the same period.
On Wednesday, Turkish parliament approved a motion to extend by one year the government's mandate to order cross-border operations against PKK rebel activities from northern Iraq.
The anger of the Turkish people is mounting after last Friday's deadly attack that killed 17 Turkish soldiers in Hakkari province in southeastern Turkey.
The Erdogan government and the powerful military have pledged to intensify a campaign to crush the outlawed PKK, which is branded by Turkey, the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.
Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq. In February, this year, it also launched an eight-day cross-border ground incursion against PKK rebels.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2008)
