Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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October 21, 2007

Turkish Troops Kill 23 Kurdish Rebels After Ambush Kills 12 Soldiers
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=19F52F7:A6F02AD83191E16030A8344AEA18A7149574F7DCC14957C0 The military says
the violence erupted when Kurdish rebels attacked an army unit this
morning near the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province, near the Iraqi
border





Turkish soldiers in armored vehicles patrol on a road in the province
of Sirnak, on the Turkish-Iraqi border, southeastern Turkey, in this
Wednesday, 17 Oct. 2007 file photoTurkey's military says troops have
killed 23 Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey after a rebel ambush
in the region killed 12 soldiers.

The military says the violence erupted when Kurdish rebels attacked an
army unit this morning near the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province,
near the Iraqi border.  It says Turkish forces then launched a
counteroffensive.

Iraqi officials say Turkish forces fired artillery toward Kurdish
villages in northern Iraq.  No casualties were reported.

In another incident in southeastern Turkey, a bomb blast wounded at
least 10 people on a minibus near the area where the Turkish soldiers
were killed.

Turkey's prime minister says the government will hold emergency talks
Sunday to consider its reaction to the latest rebel attacks.







Women march with the Kurdish flag as thousands pack the streets of
Zakho, some 475 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Saturday, 20 Oct.
2007 to protest a threatened Turkish incursion

The leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, says
his people will defend themselves if attacked by foreign forces.

Turkey's government won parliamentary approval Wednesday for military
raids into northern Iraq to hunt for rebels from the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK.  Ankara blames the PKK for attacks that have
killed about 30 soldiers in the past month.

A pro-Kurdish news agency (Firat) quotes the PKK as saying its forces
took several Turkish soldiers hostage during today's fighting.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.






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