Turkey said on Monday eight of
its soldiers were missing a day after clashes with Kurdish
rebels near the Iraqi border, in which at least 12 soldiers
were killed.
Turkey has deployed as many as 100,000 troops, backed by
tanks, F-16 fighter jets and attack helicopters along its
border with Iraq in anticipation of a possible incursion.
Asked about any pending attack, Defense Minister Vecdi
Gonul said on Sunday: "Not urgently. They are planning a
cross-border (incursion)...We'd like to do these things with
the Americans."
The United States and Iraq have called on Turkey to refrain
from a military push into the largely autonomous Kurdish
region, one of the few relatively stable parts of the Iraq
since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Turkey's tougher stance has helped propel global oil prices
to record highs over the past week. The PKK has said it might
target pipelines carrying Iraqi and Caspian crude across
Turkey.
